President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, will tomorrow at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja inaugurate the national electronic identity card, which will kick-start the issuance of a unique National Identification Number (NIN) and electronic identity card to all eligible citizens, provide a secure means to access the national identity database to authenticate and verify identities.
A statement signed by Anthony Okwudiafor, director, corporate communications of National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) which has the responsibility to create, maintain and operate the National Identity Database said tomorrow’s event was a remarkable milestone in the National Identity Management System (NIMS) as well as a huge achievement in the overall objectives of the commission.
NIMC has the mandate to issue a multi-purpose card for identification, electronic signatures, biometric on-card verification, and other applications. The card which would subsequently be issued to all Nigerians who have successfully enrolled for the National Identification Number (NIN), has five applications already activated at issuance, with a built- in capacity to host more applications post-issuance and on request.
The NIMC spokesman said the process of activating applications on the card would be done in two phases. The card is an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) compliant travel application to be used as a Machine Readable Travel Document (MRTD), for local/regional travel. It is a Nigerian Electronic Identity application to be used to authenticate an individual’s identity.
Other features include Electronic Public Key Infrastructure (‘ePKI’) application to be used for Identification, authentication and digital signatures; Fingerprint Match-on-Card (‘MoC’) functionality to be used for Biometric (fingerprint) verification; and banking application (‘EMV’) to be used for deposit, withdrawal, payment, transfer, inquiry, etc.
The national ID card can well be used as an International Driver’s License, transport application for loading credits/units on local bus terminals; Tax application for making tax payments, verify payments, etc; voter ID application for casting votes; pension application for managing Retirement Savings Account; NHIS application (eHealth) for upgrade, renew, health insurance; and Insurance application to be used to subscribe to insurance policy, renew insurance policy, etc.
The card can as well be used as repository for saving telecom subscribers personal MSISDN numbers previously registered with the NCC and a custom tool used to save space for more applets in the future. Expected at the card launch include the Vice President, Nigeria, Namadi Sambo, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim.
Other digniotaries include ministers, permanent secretaries, representatives from international agencies, divisional president, sub-Sahara Africa, MasterCard, Mr. Daniel Monehin; the group managing director, Access Bank, Mr. Herbert Wigwe; representatives from the NIMC harmonisation and integration committee, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) among others.
