With the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control announcing that, as of January 14, the country had 105,478 COVID-19 cases and 1,405 dead; it is outrageous that the Federal Government has yet to see the need to immediately suspend the ongoing National Identity Number registration. Its insistence on the exercise is wrong-headed and against national interest.
The government had on December 15, 2020 instructed telecommunications service providers to block all subscribers who fail to link their NIN with their SIM cards by December 30, 2020, a two-week deadline inclusive of the Christmas holidays and weekends. What followed was a maddening rush to the few available National Identity Management Commission registration centres by Nigerians to beat the deadline. Commendably, following strident criticism and widespread opposition, the deadline was inevitably extended to January 19, 2021. A six-week extension for subscribers without NIN to February 9, 2021 was also granted. Nonetheless, this is not enough. Even more sophisticated and well-prepared countries do not give such a short time frame for such an important national exercise. Evidently, the policy did not benefit from critical thinking and strategic planning from the NIMC.
A previous editorial said, “The scheme makes it extremely difficult for terrorists to create false IDs. It also makes identity theft much more difficult, especially with the inclusion of biometric data, and acts as a deterrent. Although a well-intentioned initiative, which is expected to help tackle crime and improve the country’s poor database, the Nigerian Communications Commission ought to have known its deadline would never be met. First, the NIMC, which is saddled with the task of establishing and managing the National Identity Database, is weak and inefficient. It has only been able to enrol about 42 million Nigerians in the last 10 years. Nigeria has about 203 million telephone subscribers most of whom are not registered with the NIMC.”
However, as laudable and well-intentioned as the initiative is, it is indefensible now because credible media reports indicate that citizens are deliberately put at the risk of contracting coronavirus. And this is just in a bid to enforce compliance with a government policy whose implementing agency obviously lacks the funds, requisite capacity and expertise to meet its mandate within the period it is expected to carry out the exercise. Recently, the NIMC admitted it has just 1,065 centres across the country as opposed to the World Bank’s recommendation of 4,000 for a country the size of Nigeria. In order to decentralise and hasten the process of registration, the commission subsequently licensed 173 firms and 30 government institutions to conduct the enrolment.
The impact of this intervention is not yet visible anywhere either, partly because the NIMC is hobbled by lack of institutional capacity. Its Director-General, Aliyu Aziz, attested to this, saying unless there is strong political commitment on the part of government and adequate funding, the programme may not succeed. But if what is required is a complete overhaul of the leadership of the commission, government should not hesitate to do that quickly. India, which began its national identity programme known as Aadhaar, almost the same time Nigeria did, has enrolled 94 per cent of its 1.35 billion people. But the NIMC has only been able to enrol about 42 million Nigerians in the last 10 years for a country with about 203 million telephone subscribers and estimated 208 million citizens.
In 2019, the European Union regulation gave two years to its member states to implement security features of its ID cards aligned with those of passports, even with the sophistication of its institutions. Yet, Nigeria is in a hurry to accomplish its registration within three weeks during a pandemic where social distancing is one of the critical non-pharmaceutical protocols to stem its deadly spread.
With the country at its wit’s end to contain the debilitating pandemic, currently in its second wave, it behoves a responsible and responsive government that cares for the welfare of its citizens to suspend the exercise. Sadly, this is not happening. A suggestion to that effect recently by the Minister of State for Health, and also a member of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Olorunnimbe Mamora, was quickly dismissed by the overbearing Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami. Mamora, a medical doctor, said, “It is displeasing to see crowds gather at the National Identity Management Commission offices. Nobody feels good. I don’t feel good looking at the pictures where people are gathered in multitudes. It’s like super-spreader events which we don’t like. I’m also aware that the relevant ministry which is the communications and digital economy is looking at this.” Nothing was looked into.
Instead, at such an inauspicious time as this, another agency of government, the Federal Roads Safety Corps, bizarrely directed that with effect from the first quarter of the year, the issuance of driving licence would no longer be possible without the NIN.
“Now, if you want to renew your driving licence or you want to obtain a fresh driving licence, you must provide your NIN. NIN is the first thing and with that, no biometrics will be done again, they will import it from NIMC,” the FRSC Corps Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi, said.
This is plain sadism and official oppression of the citizens by government agencies. It appears government in Nigeria takes delight in watching the citizens go through horrendous experiences. Elsewhere, government works towards enhancing the happiness of the greatest number of the citizens while ameliorating their existential pains. Another opportunity has inadvertently been created for Nigerians to throng NIMC offices across the country in large numbers for these exercises, just as the same government is canvassing shunning large gatherings as one of the non-pharmaceutical interventions to check the rampaging spread of COVID-19. A recommendation in July 2020 by the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo-led Economic Sustainability Committee that while the National Youth Service Corps programme could continue, the three-week orientation exercise should be suspended for two years, was snubbed on Saturday by the same agency, which decided to re-open orientation camps come Tuesday. This shows there is no unity of purpose in the Presidency in the fight against COVID-19. The agencies, tragically, work at cross-purposes. This has huge implications.
In the best interest of Nigerians, the NIN registration should be stopped forthwith. The call by the Association of Telephone, Cable TV and Internet Subscribers for the suspension of the enrolment due to COVID-19 risks is justified. The civil society should challenge the insistence of these poorly funded and ill-resourced agencies’ on NIN registration even if it entails exploring the legal option. No government policy or programme is worth more than the safety and life of an average Nigerian.
