Abia NIMC coordinator urges parents to register their children for national identity number

Mr Ukpabi Eni, Coordinator, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) in Abia, has urged parents and guardians to get their children and wards enrolled into the National Identity Database.

Eni made the request in an interview with our reporter in Umuahia on Wednesday.

He described the registration and the issuance of the National Identification Number (NIN) as a lifetime opportunity.

Eni further said that it was important to register minors, adding that doing so would help the commission to ascertain the exact population of the country.

According to Eni, prior to the commencement of the NIN scheme, determining the country’s population has been questionable.

He said: “We register people from age 0 to any age. The only thing is that youths below 16 years are registered jointly with their parents.

“When they come of age, they will be registered separately.’’

The NIMC coordinator said that registration and issuance of NIN could be done at any of the centres in the state.

“Very soon, this registration will be used as population census. It will be used for sharing of resources and voting.

“The registration is currently used in making some decisions. So the faster we register everyone, the better those decisions would be made,” Eni said.

He said that the registration was a continuous exercise and issuance of NIN was free of charge.

“The only thing one is required to do is to come with a means of identification.

“It can be the old National Identity card or driver’s license, international passport, any government document, local government of origin, state of origin, testimonial or any other thing that can properly identify you,’’ Eni said.