THE National Identity Man agement Commission (NIMC) has said 75 per cent of the 167 million population has no authentic identities because they are self-issued.
The body said it would endeavour to deliver a reliable and secured national identity to the country.
NIMC Director-General, Chris Onyemenam, identified key issues that have led to the insecurity in the country, saying an average Nigerian parades multiple and unreliable identities.
As a result, over 75 per cent fake and counterfeits identities are in use, stating that the problem has been further compounded by excessive focus on ID card issuance without proper authentication and verification.
Onyemenam also said over 100 million Nigerians have no official identities. He said: “Seventy per cent of identity documents are fake and self issued, and there is no timely means of authenticating the documents. Less than 20 per cent of the population have access to financial services and that actual total bank cards were less than 10 per cent of the population.’’
In a paper entitled: National Identity Management System (NIMS): How the system will work and how it will benefit you and the government, Onyemenam said the solution to these is a shift from ID card issuance to identity management system that is the statutory duty of the NIMC.
He explained that the NIMS project is in five components. He listed them to include: the establishment of reliable, secured and accurate national database, assigning of National Identification Number (NIN), issuance of General Multi-Purpose Cards (GMPC), provision of infrastructure that will be used for verification and confirmation of identity, and harmonisation of government agencies’ databases in the country.
