More facts have emerged from proceedings at the recently concluded General Assembly of the Northern Traditional Rulers Council (NTRC) in Kaduna, where the Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Engr Aliyu Aziz said upon poor funding, political will is lacking on the side of the Federal Government to do the needful in the agency.
According, he warned that the country’s National Identity Programme will not succeed without strong political will on the part of government which has manifested in poor funding of the agency.
In his submission, Aziz averred that National Identity Programme would fail if it did not receive adequate funding.
Recall that many Nigerians had lost confidence in the agency considering the negligence of emphasis on producing real National ID cards which NIMC is all about by the establishment Act to mere national Identity Number slip which cannot stand as a clear identity card.
A strategic comparism with what is currently obtained in Ghana by Business Hilights Ghana Bureau chief in Accra showed that it does not take up to one week after complete capturing for a Ghanaian to pick up his national ID card which is popularly called Ghana Card.
Giving more details of the official challenges of his agency in his lead presentation at the NTRC in a paper titled ‘Importance of national identity to nation building’, Aziz said, “Without strong political leadership and commitment, financial resources and stakeholder collaboration, the National Identity Programme will not be successful and sustained.
“Like any government reform, political will and strong leadership are required to implement the national identity project.”
Business Hilights recalls that contrary to the official targets of 75 million set when he was appointed as DG for 2018, NIMC has only been able to crawl to a paltry 38 million Nigerians for the National Identification Number Project only even as no Nigerian is yet to receive his or her national ID card till now.
Continuing, the embattled DG made it clear that he had been facing serial challenges in its efforts to enrol Nigerians for the NIN including poor funding, inadequate mobilisation and limited awareness.
