FG Denies National ID Card Suspension
…Says NIN Required, not Card for identity based transactions
By Olabisi Olaleye
Federal government through the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), has denied the suspension of the national identification card issuance.
In a statement signed by Head, Corporate Communications Unit, NIMC, Mr Loveday Ogbonna , the Commission has not suspended the issuance of cards to successful enrolees at any time.
According to him, the National Identification Number (NIN) is the unique identifier issued by the Commission and not the physical Card.
“The NIN is a set of 11 non-intelligent numbers randomly assigned to an individual at the completion of enrolment into the National Identity Database (NIDB).
“The NIN is used to tie all records about an individual in the database and is verifiable via the NIMC Verification Service (NVS) portal which is made available to institutions and organisations upon request.” Adding that section 27 (1) and (2) of the NIMC Act, 2007, states that transactions including, application for and issuance of an International Passport; opening of individual and/or group bank accounts, all consumer credits; purchase of insurance policies, purchase, transfer and registration of land by any individual; National Health Insurance Scheme, and such transactions that have social security implications, registration of voters, payment of taxes, and pensions, will be done with the NIN.
Ogbonna further stated that “All individuals who, upon completion of their enrolment, have received an SMS are invited to proceed to the NIMC Office where they enrolled to pick up their Cards from tomorrow(April 3,2018). Persons who have not received an SMS can equally check the status of their cards on the NIMC website via www.nimc.gov.ng.
“Citizens and legal residents who have also relocated from where they enrolled are advised to visit any NIMC office closest to them to request a card transfer form, which they would fill, and submit to the State Coordinator for processing, ” he said.