Why FG embarked on ID card scheme - DG

13.02.2008

The national identification scheme is not about physical identity cards, the Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission, Chris Onyemenam,said on Tuesday in Abuja.

“It is more about having a national data base that is safe, secure, reliable and verifiable by institutions and government organs requiring data about Nigerians to perform their functions,’’ he told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

“It is not about the cards individuals are holding. It is about authentic data on Nigerians,’’ he stressed.

Onyemenam said data on Nigerians being compiled would enhance the functions of government institutions, the police, the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the banks among others.

He said one of the current problems of identification of Nigerians was the duplicity in the compilation of data by the various organs of government and financial institutions.

The current system, he explained, left room for people to falsify records as they could change things like date of births, number of children, marital status and sundry facts at will, depending on which agency they were dealing with.

“With a central data base that can interface with others in each of the departments listed, it becomes virtually impossible to falsify facts.