Nigeria Adopts September 16 As Identity Day
By Pelumi Olaleye
September sixteen of every year will now be marked as a national identity day in Nigeria.
Federal Government of Nigeria recently adopted and approved the recognition and observance of this day due to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.9 which calls for legal identity for all including birth registration by 2030.
Nigeria has become the first country in the world to declare September 16 as ID Day, thereby leading the rest of the world in this important direction.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha conveyed the government’s approval in a letter dated August 29, 2019 and addressed to the Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Engr. Aliyu Aziz.
Aziz said in a signed statement that NIMC has lined up a number of activities to formally launch Nigeria’s Identity Day on September 16, 2019 this year being the debut edition. The programme will take place in Abuja, with stakeholders from public and private sectors attending.
“Many important issues on the international development and human rights agenda have an observance day. For example, 10 December is Human Rights Day, while 20th of June is Refugee Day. Now is the time for identity to have a day of observance,” he said.
The ID-Day campaign was initiated at the 4th Annual Meeting of the ID4Africa Movement on 24 April 2018, in Abuja, Nigeria, as a global coalition calling for the recognition by the United Nations of September 16 – or 16.9 – as International Identity Day (ID Day) given that identity plays an increasingly important role worldwide in developed as well as developing economies.
The DG explained that: “The purpose of International Identity Day is to raise awareness about the important role identity plays in empowering individuals to exercise their rights and responsibilities fairly and equitably in a modern society.”