![The long, long wait for National I.D cards The long, long wait for National I.D cards](http://images.dailytrust.com.ng/cms/gall_content/2017/3/2017_3$large_10WEEKLYPAGE18_a.jpg)
‘’When
I enrolled for the National Identity card early last year, I had
expected the card would be ready in at most six months’ time. Whenever I
go to their office, it has always been ‘go and comeback tomorrow’,”
says Song Muru, a Msc student of the University of Abuja.
“The
last time I was in their office was in September 2016 and after lodging
my complaint, they collected my cell phone number and promised to call
me when the original ID is available. However, the printout they issued
to me is not accepted in some instances when I present it. I wish to
call on NIMC to revisit their issuance procedures and make it faster,”
he added.
Song
is not the only one having trouble collecting his National Identity
card, as over a million Nigerians who have registered are yet to be
issued with the card since 2012 when the scheme was relaunched.
Nigeria first introduced a National Identity Card in 2005, but its adoption back then was not widespread.
Amaka
Eze of the Corporate Communications Unit of the agency told our
reporter the agency has “enrolled into the National Identity Database
(NIDB) and issued the unique National Identification Number (NIN) to
over 15 million people who have presented themselves for registration at
our NIN Enrolment Centers across the nation.”
She
confirmed that cards registered in 2012 are ready for collection, and
urged those who registered then to check the portal or approach any NIMC
State office to confirm that the card is ready.
“Currently,
we have over half a million cards lying in the various Card Collection
Centres waiting for collection. To resolve this situation, we have
provided a portal where people can log on to check the status of their
card,” she said.
“For
some people who may have changed location from where they initially
registered, they can walk into any NIMC office near them and make a card
transfer request by filling a Card Transfer Form indicating where they
now want the card to be sent. This request can only be made after they
have received a text message or online confirmation that their cards are
ready,” she noted.
Eze
said the major challenges the agency continuously face with the project
is that of inadequate funding. “This has limited us from carrying out a
full scale deployment of the NIMS across the 774 LGAs of Nigeria. For
now, NIMC has deployed over 500 NIN Enrolment and card collection
centres across the country, and most of these centres open 8 hours every
day of the working week to ensure that people who present themselves
for enrolment are attended to. This requires funding. With adequate
funding, we would be able to open enrolment centres in each LGA, provide
adequate power to all centres for effective enrolment, print and
deliver all outstanding cards, and deploy full verification and
authentication services nationwide to enable government agencies and
businesses verify individuals’ identities.”
On
why the issuance is very slow, the commission said card personalization
and issuance was not originally meant to be handled by the NIMC but
through a private sector partnership arrangement which eventually
suffered a setback and led NIMC to commence pilot card production in
2014 with a limited card personalization bureau.
This,
along with funding challenges restricted the timely personalization and
issuance of the cards according to the communications officer, but she
assures that plans are at an advanced stage to expand and extend the
personalization capacity so that the commission can print and issue card
in a timely manner.