National Identity Card’ll Complement PVC – Buhari

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)