The Federal Government has said that no fewer than 67 million people have registered for National Identification Number (NIN).
This was disclosed by the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Mallam Isa Pantami, at the Nigeria international Partnership Forum held on the sidelines of the Paris Peace Forum.
According to a statement issued by the Minister, the NIN database was planned in such a way that people in their productive age of 15 to 60 years were captured first and 92% in that category had been captured.
What the Minister is saying about NIN
He said, “No fewer than 67 million people have registered for National Identification Number (NIN). A development that is believed to be the foundation for economy growth and national security.
“The focus currently was on the younger age from age one to 14 years. The government placed premium on the NIN enrolment because it is the foundation for the growth of the economy, securing the country and protecting investors from fraudulent elements.
“With NIN enrolment, the identity of citizens and legal residents will be known and whosoever goes online, the identity will be known by the Federal Government and security institutions.
“You cannot open an account, process travelling passport, driver licence without obtaining NIN and it has become a prerequisite to accessing government services and to bring peace of minds to prospective investors.”
The minister said the enrolment had been made seamless with the increase of enrolment centres from1600 to 6000 while one or two enrolment centres were set up in every country for Nigerians in the Diaspora.
According to Pantami, more than 10 enrolment centres were set up in the UK and USA to address the need of many Nigerians in those countries.
What you should know
To make the country safe and attractive for Foreign Direct Investment, Pantami said government launched National Digital Economy with eight pillars among which is the number six which addressed the issue of cyber security.
He said that among the things achieved was to clean up the country’s database by blocking of over 24 million sim cards that were improperly registered or completely unregistered and could be used for cyber-crime.
Pantami said the feat was achieved with the introduction of deliberate policies and programmes including – Visa on arrival, electronic processing of visa, online registration of businesses and tax holidays introduced in over 50 areas of the economy.
