2 FRIDAY , AUGUST 11 , 2017
Vox pop
National identity card : Is January deadline
by Nigeria Immigration Service feasible ?
One cannot say yes or no , but one can state reasons why it may not be feasible to meet the January 2018 deadline . The National Identity Management Commission has not been able to issue cards to registered Nigerians for more than five years now . Most of those they captured on their system have not been given the cards . I can use myself as an example . I was captured for the National ID card in Ilorin for over three years now , but it has yet to be issued to me . If NIMC has not been able to issue the ones registered for about five years , how will the cards captured from now till January be issued ?
Also , the Nigeria Immigration Service has a mechanism whereby the personnel should be able to identify a Nigerian . The service has officers from every local government area of the country working in passport offices . The purpose is for them to easily identify people from their local government areas . That should be the most potent way of identifying people and not necessarily , through the National ID card . But , if it becomes a policy that the card should be used to get a Nigerian passport , people should be given more time to acquire it . The National ID card is not like the passport that when you apply , it will be issued to you within one or two days . In the case of the ID card , it takes more time to process .
The officials in the commission appear not to be living up to their responsibilities . If it is what can be issued to Nigerians within one
• Osazee Edigin ( Spokesman , Edo Edo Civil Society Organisations )
Nigeria has good policy thrusts , but the major problem has always been the implementation . Over the years , we have been grappling with building a central database that will accommodate information about the citizens and the activities of institutions as obtained in some other climes . Among the several challenges in having a viable database for the country is the absence of reliable electricity and information technology infrastructure that can stand the test of time .
We can draw inferences from the failures of the card reader during elections in Nigeria ; we have also witnessed a situation where citizens ’ data cannot be found in already captured information of voters in the system . While this initiative would have been very much applauded , the question is , do we have what it takes to integrate the information in the system of the National Identity Management Commission
• Dr Ahamefule Nwachukwu ( Comptroller of Immigration , Retd .)
or two weeks , it would have been fine to fix a deadline . All that is required would have been to simply identify an applicant that this is a Nigerian .
My position is that the deadline should be extended , while people should be given alternative means of identifying themselves for passport issuance until they get their National ID cards .
with that of the Nigeria Immigration Service without the hiccups associated with network instability or failure at the point of registration for the Nigerian passport ?
I have registered for the National ID card for the past three years , but what I have with me till date is the temporary slip that was issued to me . I am still waiting for the original biometric card , which appears not to be in sight for now .
Going forward , we must consider most of these issues before giving such a proviso for obtaining the Nigerian passport . One of such attempts to integrate citizens ’ information into a single database , which had worked , was the Bank Verification Number .
The success of that can be attributed to the huge investment all the banks and the Central Bank of Nigeria made to ensure that the sector was insulated against technological compromise . We have had people ’ s information missing from databases owned by government institutions due to a crashed system or weak technological infrastructure . Looking at the foregoing , we still need to think it through before relying on any existing database as a condition to issue the Nigerian passport to citizens .
The Comptroller-General of Nigeria
Immigration Service is not taking into account the profile and public record of the civil service in Nigeria . He doesn ’ t seem to reckon with the bureaucratic inertia that is essentially the characteristic of the Nigerian public service . If he had given the deadline just to put people on the alert , that is understandable , but he should appreciate the fact that it is not realistic .
The National ID card project has been jinxed for a long time and I do not see how it will become efficient
Compiled by : Success Nwogu , Samuel Awoyinfa , Adelani Adepegba , Olaleye Aluko , Okere Alexander
The deadline is rather unfortunate because it is not feasible . If you recall , it was around 1999 that we started this National ID card project . One minister was even put in the dock for trial because of the monumental fraud that was uncovered in the execution of the project . It became another very unfortunate national scandal .
Let us be very frank with ourselves . Identification is critical in any modern economy . It is the fundamental building block for security . In other climes , nobody plays with his or her national security number . That is the name it is called in the United States . We have some investors who have refused to come to Nigeria on the premise that a nation without identification is precarious and not safe for investment .
If banks could deliver the Biometric Identification Number to Nigerians , I believe the national identification is possible too . The problem is that we simply lack the political will to do it .
I will say that the objective of the immigration service to make Nigerians have the National ID is good , but it should not be simply for passports . It should be for virtually every service . But , you have to give Nigerians at least a deadline of 12 months before using the ID card for processing passports .
• Habeeb Whyte ( A legal practitioner )
It is not feasible . It is impossible and ridiculous . The process of obtaining a National ID card has not been properly addressed , much less the identity card being used as a yardstick for getting the Nigerian passport .
The idea to ensure that every citizen has
overnight . A lot of people complain that they have fulfilled all the necessary things but they have not got the card . So , if the CG gave the deadline as a reminder , that is good enough , but if he takes it seriously , that is something else . For the Nigerians we know too well , it will take more than threats or deadlines to get them to comply with the deadline .
The truth of the matter is that the National ID card should be the foundation for other national ID cards or the Nigerian passport . What I understand from the CG ’ s deadline is that the National ID card will not be a substitute for international passports .
• Bisi Sanda ( An economist )
In America , there is virtually nothing you can do without your security number . It is so fundamental . Hence , while the objective of the immigration service is laudable and long overdue , some other methods of ensuring 100 per cent compliance can be explored within a reasonable length of time . I do not think the present deadline is appropriate .
a national identification number through the National ID card initiative is laudable . However , to make it a thing of urgency , as in this case , is an attempt to make the Nigerian Immigration Service unpopular among Nigerians .
Those who registered even before the announcement of the deadline have not got their cards . They are being asked to come back after registration to get the cards and upon checking back , they get one excuse or another . The reality is that the commission should have a secure system of operation before the NIS can attempt to set a deadline .
The issuing agency should ensure that there is quick delivery of the services they offer . If Nigerians can get their National ID cards within 72hours of registration , then we are good to go as far as the deadline is concerned . If not , the deadline is an attempt to heat up our polity and we do not need that now .
I will suggest that more issuing centres should be properly created while the issuing officers should be well equipped to give prompt services . If we have this in place , the deadline becomes feasible because by then , no one will have an excuse for not getting his / her National ID . If by then you are denied of your Nigerian passport , it is your fault .
• Charles Onujaiju ( A public policy analyst )