By Nkechi Isaac, Abuja |
The minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), has charged the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to ensure a 500 per cent increase in the number of monthly citizens’ digital identity enrolments.
He gave the charge when he was briefed by the NIMC management on their activities following the final transfer of the supervision of the commission to the ministry in his office in Abuja.
Pantami charged the commission to ensure increase in the number of monthly citizens’ digital identity enrolments- up from the current 500,000 monthly enrolments to 2.5 million monthly.
He commended the NIMC director-general, Engr Aliyu A. Aziz, for his commitment and passion, noting there has been a considerable increase in enrolments since he became the chief executive officer of NIMC.
The minister, however, stated that there is still a need to raise the bar even higher by ensuring that the enrolment rate is five times the current rate, saying it was imperative because the National Identity Number (NIN) will soon be made mandatory for accessing government services and interventions.
He also restated his commitment to ensuring that citizens easily obtain secure digital identity and urged them to enroll as soon as possible, even as he directed the NIMC boss to set up complaint units in all the commission’s centres in order to ensure that the complaints of the citizens are promptly addressed.
He also directed the commission to interface more with citizens and to also run awareness campaigns on all media channels and in Nigerian languages to encourage citizens to obtain their digital identity.
“Digital Identity is one of the key requirements of any digital economy and it is captured under Pillar #6 of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a Digital Nigeria,” he added.
A statement by the minister’s spokesperson, Mrs Uwa Suleiman, said the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy is committed to supporting NIMC to ensure that Nigerians derive the benefits of a functional digital identity system, even as it encouraged Nigerians to visit NIMC accredited centres soon for their digital identity.
