BY EDMOND ODOK – In what portrays another policy somersault by the Federal Government, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Pantami says all Nigerians and legal residents must urgently embrace the ongoing National identity enrolment exercise for valid identification in the country.
Pantami said this has become necessary because the National Identity Number (NIN) will soon replace the Bank Verification Number (BVN) as the only recognised means of identification recognised by law in Nigeria.
Consequently, he said there is an ongoing engagement with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) given that BVN is only the apex bank policy measure, while NIN is an establishment of law.
The Minister further explained that ‘‘the strength of the law wherever you go is not the same with a policy of one institution.’’
Dr Pantami dropped the hints while briefing journalists after his facility tour and inspection of ongoing NIN enrolment exercise at National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and other designated centres nationwide.
He said having made presentation to the National Economic Sustainability Committee and engaged the CBN, it is important to also note that “BVN is only applicable to those who have bank account but NIN is for every citizen and legal residents in the country.’’
‘‘BVN is our secondary database, while NIN database is the primary one in the country that each and every institution should make reference to NIMC.
‘‘On the board of NIMC, CBN governor is a member, DG DSS is a member, Chairman of FIRS is a member, INEC Chairman, Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), National Population Commission and the Nigeria Immigration Service are all members of the board.
‘‘This is to show you that it is primary database that every institution in the country should make reference to, when it comes to data protection regulations, we are in the forefront in Africa today.”
Further amplifying government’s efforts at harmonizing and protecting its database, Dr Pantami said; “The level of security in all our database is 99.9 percent. There is no database that is 100 percent secured, the highest you can go, I think we are there.
‘‘That is why we came up with the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation that we always enforce and this is applicable to the database at our disposal, we take care of it and make sure that security is excellent and we don’t allow anybody to compromise the content because it is a trust from our citizens given to us”.
Also speaking on government’s decision to hire private agents for the NIN enrolment, he said, the development complies with the global best practice where NIMC functions effectively as the regulator, while supervising and encouraging the operators to perform independently.
According to him; ‘‘Globally, a regulator is not supposed to be the operator as well because if the regulator is also the operator, who is going to regulate the operators.
‘‘What I inherited was that the NIMC was a full regulator of the sector and also the operator. So, the global standard is to divorce the regulator to be independent from the operator.
‘‘For instance, NCC is the regulator of the Telecommunications sector but it does not own any telecommunication company. If it does, most probably, it cannot treat others fairly and justly.
“A regulator should be independent that he focuses more on regulating the sector. In developed nations, you cannot find a regulator also serving also as an operator.
‘‘We need to allow the Commission to focus on regulatory work, they set the standards for biometrics registration, measuring of heights, and standard for data to be collected, verify everything.
‘‘When you enroll citizens as an agent, they must verify it and if they are comfortable and validates, the agent will be allowed to issue your number. I visited five centers and I am very satisfied.’’
At the MTN office in Maitama, Dr Pantami said his team was there to appreciate first hand the ongoing exercise and possible areas that need improvement.
He also told the MTN officials that the Ministry is working on its database to make it robust and reliable.
‘‘We are working on that, they are being verified but it is slow due to the high numbers of request. We are working on coming up with one verification and we do hope that the issue will be resolved soon’’
“The challenge is that the BVN records may not be 100 percent the same with NIN but what is most important is that the NIN is the primary identity of each and every citizens including legal residents.’’
In his response, General manager of MTN, Amina Danbatta, noted that; “there are people who have enrolled before but we couldn’t verify their information on the data base.
Another issue raised by the MTN officials was their inability to update enrollment from their office using costumers BVN.
Dr Pantami, in the company of Chief Executives of agencies under his ministry and some ministry officials, also visited the NIN Enrolment Centre at Gwarimpa, Airtel Office and Global Office, all located at Wuse 11 in Abuja.
Another location visited in Wuse 11, was one of the newly licensed agents, Office Machines Nigeria Limited where its Chief Executive Officer, Okey Ikpe informed the Minister that they met all minimum requirements by NIMC before commencing enrolment.
While lauding government for engaging the private sector and providing a level playing field for them to operate, he disclosed that for easy collection of NIN’s completed registrations, the company has mapped out Wednesdays and Saturdays for successful enrollees to take possession of their ID cards.
The Minister, who expressed satisfaction at the pace of work and quality of service at the various centres visited, praised the staff for complying with COVID-19 protocols and the Executive Order Number 5 of the Federal government.
He also gave assurance of government’s resolve to ensure a smooth enrolment exercise across the country.
On his part, Director General of NIMC, Aliyu Azeez, said the Commission still requires broadband support and other logistics for its personnel to deliver efficient services to the public. – With Tech Digest report.
