By Tola Akinmutimi
The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) at the weekend announced the extension of the current National Identification Number (NIN) enrolment to the United States of America (USA) as furtherance of its mandate to enrol all Nigerians and legal residents into the National Identity Database (NIDB).
Already, the exercise is ongoing in South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
A statement issued on the planned exercise by the NIMC’s head of communications unit, Loveday Ogbona, indicated that the exercise, which will involve the demographic and biometrics data capture of all Nigerian citizens residing in the USA, was organised in collaboration with Thebez Global Resources Ltd, Defcon Systems Limitedand National eAuthentication Limited (NeAL), Nigerian companies licensed by the NIMC to serve as its agents, and carry out enrolment services across the globe with a view to ensuring best-in-class services and inclusivity.
The commission’s director general, Aliyu Aziz, was quoted as reiterating that the extension is in line with the commission’s mandate to ensure that all Nigerian citizens in Nigeria, those in the Diaspora and legal residents in Nigeria are enrolled into the NIDB and issued the unique NIN upon successful enrolment.
He explained: “The programme will make it easier for Nigerians in Diaspora to be identified, as the Federal Government of Nigeria has made the possession of NIN a mandatory requirement for elections, Bank account opening, Land Transactions, access to Legal/health services, acquisition/renewal of the International Passport, Driver’s License and the ECOWAS travel document, amongst others.”
According to the commission, the planned U.S enrolment exercise is scheduled to commence from Tuesday, 28th May, 2019 in Washington DC at 11900 Parklawn Drive, Suite 160 Rockville, MD 20852.
The commission listed other locations and commencement dates of the exercise in the country as including 1001 Texas Avenue, Suite 5050 (Level 5) Houston, Texas, where it willkick off on Tuesday 28th May, 2019; 9894 Bissonet Street, Suite 745 Houston, Texas, on the same date; while the exercises in 370 Lexington Avenue, Suite 1505, New York, and at 336 West 37th Street Suit 500, 5th Floor, New York, would be flagged off on Thursday, 30th May 2019. On 31st May, the enrolment at 918 Holcomb Bridge Road, Suite 204 Roswell, Atlanta, Georgia, will also hold.
It assured that additional locations in other cities of the world where Nigerians reside will be announced in due course.
The Nigerian companies licensed to work with their respective partners across all countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and America to carry out the enrolment of Nigerian adults and children in the Diaspora into the National Identity Database (NIDB) are Biosec Solutions Limited, CHAMS Consortium Limited, Defcon Systems Limited, National eAuthentication Limited, Thebez Global Resources and Venn Technology Limited.
