Some Nigerians have called on the federal government to unify its proposed three new national identity cards, slated for launch in May.
They gave the advice yesterday in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) recently announced its plans to provide the multipurpose identity cards for about 104 million citizens across the country.
The three new national identity cards include a bank-enabled National ID card, a social intervention card, and an optional ECOWAS National Biometric Identity Card.
A business woman, Mrs Toyosi Olawale, said identity cards should be unified into one card as it was done in developed countries.
“With a social security number and identity system in advanced countries, all information about an individual can be gotten in less than one minute.
“So, government should see how to unify its information and identity systems into one database and card.
“It makes it easier, avoids duplication of identity. It will also be easier to carry. Too many identity cards may be easily stolen or misplaced,” she said.
A lecturer, Mr Abubakar Salamiem emphasized the need for government to focus its attention on how to perfect the Bank Verification Number (BVN) and National Identification Number (NIN) before introducing another multipurpose Identity cards.
“These proposed three new national identity cards will create confusion for Nigerians,” Salami said.
A student of the University of Abuja, Nanko Paul, urged the federal government not to complicate things for Nigerians, saying that government should rather perfect the existing cards instead of introducing new ones.
A former president of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Prof Adeshina Sodiya, appealed to NIMC to seek experts’ advice before introducing the proposed multipurpose identity cards for Nigerians.
He said that there should be a strategic workshop for critical analysis before the introduction of the multipurpose cards.
He said there was also the need for NIMC to get it right for the betterment of the country.
The technical adviser on media and communications to the NIMC director-general, Mr Ayodele Babalola, revealed recently that the proposed three new cards would address various needs of the Nigerian populace.
“The new IDs are a collaborative effort among NIMC, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS), aimed at fostering service delivery in a cost-effective and competitive manner,” he said.
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