Commission says mandatory use of NIN by MDAs to be enforced soon

Mrs Hadiza Dagabana, General Manager Legal Services, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), on Saturday made some clarifications on the planned enforcement of the use of the National Identification Number (NIN).

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, Dagabana said it would be enforced by the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

She explained that the Commission was taking the step in pursuant of the official gazetting on the commencement of the mandatory use of the NIN as enshrined in section 27 of the NIMC Act.

``This stipulates that transactions like applications for International Passport; opening of bank accounts and purchase of insurance policies will be done with the NIN, beginning from Sept. 1, 2016.

``Other such transactions include those that have social security implications, like the National Health Insurance Scheme, registration of voters, payment of taxes, and pensions, among others,’’ she said.

Dagabana also said that the Commission had earlier announced a Jan. 9 date for commencement of the enforcement by relevant agencies.

``The decision to allow more time before enforcement was to provide the enabling environment for the Commission to harp on the new drive.

``This will enable us aggregate demographic and biometric databases from relevant MDAs and harmonise as recently directed by the President through the office of the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo,’’ she said.

She added that enforcement of compliance would be announced to the general public after NIMC had concluded an ongoing review of its strategy on compliance.

``NIMC has circulated copies of the Regulation and the Implementation Guidelines to major stakeholder agencies to ensure that they request for the NIN from Nigerians and legal residents before services are rendered.

``The commission, therefore, calls on all Nigerians to use this period to visit any NIMC enrolment centre near them to enrol before the Commission begins full enforcement.

``At the commencement of full enforcement, services will be denied to all those who seek such services without their NIN,’’ she warned.