Sequel to the Federal Government’s approval of September 16 of every year as National Identity Day, Nigeria is the first country to formally adopt the day, otherwise called 16.9, as Identity Day (ID-Day). The approval was communicated to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) in a letter from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha.
Operations/Corporate Communications, who made this known in a statement said: “In the letter signed on the SGF’s behalf by David K. Gende, the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Mustapha conveyed government’s approval to the NIMC chief executive officer that Nigeria ‘should join the Coalition for International Identity Day,’ in response to the latter’s earlier request. By that approval, therefore, Nigeria becomes the first country in the world to formally adopt September 16, otherwise called 16.9, as Identity Day (ID-Day).”
Why September 16? Aliyu Aziz, NIMC’s director-general said the choice of the date was in recognition of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.9 which calls for a legal identity for all, including birth registration by 2030. According to him, “Many important issues on the international development and human rights agenda have an observance day. For example, 10 December is Human Rights Day, while 20th of June is Refugee Day. Now is the time for identity to have a day of observance.”
These days, identification is an indispensable tool for national development and social cohesion. Indeed, ID cards are becoming common worldwide, with many countries using them to improve national and international security. The cards are also useful in the fight against identity theft, especially with holder’s biometric features embedded in the cards.
According to the NIMC, the “National Identification Number (NIN) is used to tie together all records about you – demographic data, fingerprints, head-to-shoulder facial picture, other biometric data and digital signature – in the National Identity Database making it relatively easy to confirm and verify your identity when you engage in travels and transactions.”
We welcome the declaration of September 16 as National Identity Day. However, Nigeria should go beyond observing the day for its symbolic significance alone. As a matter of fact, this is the basis of our conditional support for the National Identity Day: its usefulness, at least as far as we are concerned, is in the date being used essentially to sensitise Nigerians on the importance of the identity card. The day should also serve as reminder to those in charge of the cards to ensure an all-year-round availability of the card, devoid of unnecessary bureaucratic bottlenecks.
Our fear though is whether one can give what one does not have. We ask this question because up till now, only about 37 million Nigerians have the National Identity Card despite the fact that the journey towards making it a reality started as far back as the 1980s in the Alhaji Shehu Shagari years in the Second Republic. The process for the issuance of the card has sadly been corruption-ridden. The processes have gulped billions without commensurate result. If only about 37 million Nigerians have been issued their NIN in a country estimated to be about 170 million, there must be a change of attitude on the part of all stakeholders for the cards to be made available to every qualified Nigerian. If it has taken us this long to make provision for only about a quarter of the population, how long will it take to get every qualified Nigerian covered? This is a poser for the NIMC.
However, now that the government has approved a National Identity Day for the country, we hope it would put in place all the necessary facilities that would facilitate the issuance of the National Identity Card. A National Identity Day without identity card is a charade. We hope this is not lost on the government.
