The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has announced that
the electronic national identity cards it was producing are now ready
and would soon be rolled out.
The Director Corporate Communications, Mr Anthony Okwudiafor, who
confirmed this, said that the Card would be formally launched by
President Goodluck Jonathan. According to him, the launching would be an important development and
would usher in the formal and comprehensive identification of Nigerians
and legal residents with the e-ID card embedded with the National
Identification Number (NIN).
The director however explained that part of the reasons why the
launch of the New National e-Identity card was delayed is to allow
Nigerians understand and appreciate the difference between the National
Identification Number (NIN) and the National ID Cards.
“Part of the reasons why we delayed the roll out of the Cards is
because we deliberately meant to separate and distinguish between the
National Identification Number (NIN) which is a person’s identity in the
strict sense of the Universal Identification Infrastructure and the
National ID-Cards which will carry the National Identification Number
(NIN).”
Mr. Okwudiafor said while the Commission worked on addressing the
cynicism which followed the past National Identity Card projects,
research findings showed that there was need to distinguish between the
NIN and the New ID Card in the minds of Nigerians.
He also explained that the Commission therefore delayed the Card
launch, in order to allow Nigerians know that the unique identifier is
not the Card which can always be replaced when it is lost, but the NIN,
which would always remain the same, even when the card is lost and
replaced are different, but the ID card carries the National
Identification Number.
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