President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, August 26, 2015, at the State
House, Abuja, enrolled for the national identity card scheme, and
enjoined other Nigerians to do same as the scheme is planned to complete
the permanent voter card (PVC) registration.
Officials of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), led
by the Director-General, Chris Onyemenam, enrolled the President for
the scheme.
After the exercise, Buhari told Nigerians that it was important for Nigerians across political lines to register for the scheme.
”I think this exercise is very important to confirm our population
and those who are entitled to vote, that is, those who are 18 years and
above. It will complement the exercise of the permanent voters’ card.
“So, for those who want their votes to count from whichever party or
constituency, they should ensure that they and their families are
properly captured,” Buhari said.
In his remarks, Onyemenam disclosed that the enrolment exercise,
which has no time lime, has already registered about seven million Nigerians.
Onyemenam said the NIMC database would adapt and incorporate the data
already captured by commercial banks’ bank verification number (BVN),
while efforts are on to open more registration centres in collaboration
with the other government agencies, universities and the National
Population Commission.
According to him: “This exercise is not a one-off thing in the sense
that there is no time limit. It is a continuous exercise. So every
enrollment centre that we have established remains open forever; they
are like branches of banks.
“We are taking deliberate steps to ensure that enrollment centres are
opened in each local government. In collaboration with MDAs, we are now
extending it to universities. It will also be extended to primary
schools and hospitals.
“With the cooperation we expect from the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC), we are meeting INEC today, it will be
extended even further.
“The close to seven million that we have in our database is the
product of the pilot scheme that we embarked upon to demonstrate the
value of the scheme. Now that the MDAs are going to step up the
harmonisation, the database will be populated in a matter of weeks.”
(Daily Independent)
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