NIMC records 20% of registration objective
The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has registered over 14 million Nigerians in the national identity database.
This figure is however, a far cry from the commissions objective of enrolling over 70 million.
Chika Loveday Ogbonna, Senior Manager, Corporate Communication, who disclosed this to the press, noted that between 2012 and 2015, the commission was able to enroll slightly over 7 million, adding that the objective since Mr. Aliyu Aziz, the new Director General, took over was to enroll 70 million Nigerians in the database, but hindered by limited resources.
Ogbonna, who acknowledged funding and power as drivers to achieving its goals said these have become major factors affecting the effective function of the commission.
He explained that the commission has only been able to access 470 local governments LGAs out of the 774 local governments in the country, adding that electricity is crucial to carrying out its duties effectively in these locations.
“We are making efforts to cover everywhere, we are supposed to be in every local government, 774 LGAs but so far we are in about 470. It is either we don’t have all the necessary resources to be there; but in the places we are, activities are ongoing as much as we can carry.”
“Our main challenge, I will say is power. When you compare us to what our sister agencies are doing we discovered that INEC is in every ward not just in the local government during the elections, they are in every ward because they have materials to work with.
“It is not just enough to say that we are in a place and put signboard, yet are not working. We have to be in that place with what will make us work,” he said.
