Insecurity: Minister tasks security agencies on use of national databases

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami has appealed to security agencies to make use of databases by National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to address security challenges.

Pantami said this at the 4th National Identity Day celebration in Abuja with the theme: “Traditional Institutions as Critical Stakeholders for Citizens Mobilisation”.

He said both the Subscribers Identification Module (SIM) and the NIN were available to solve the security challenges currently faced in the country.

“We are pleading with security institutions to make use of the database.

“It is not our work to do the security work, our own is to support them with these two databases available, NIN and SIM.

“From information at my disposal, the CEOs of these institutions, the utilisation has been highly insignificant.

“It is because of this we are pleading if they can leverage on this, we have no doubt they will be able to address the security situation confronting us in this country,” Pantami said.

He also said the challenges of education, health, security and many more would be addressed with complete databases in the country in partnership with National Population Commission (NPC).

“Proper databases will guide us as a country to know the age bracket of the population under and below 60 years, male, female, those living in the rural and urban areas.

“From the databases we can plan easily, data base is the foundation of getting our education, medical system, food security and security right in the country, Pantami said.

He said traditional rulers and other institutions in our country have critical roles to play in mediating, stimulating, mobilising and rallying our people, in the rural, semi-urban and even urban areas, to embrace enrolment to obtain their NIN.

Pantami however encouraged the citizenry to embrace enrolment to ensure that the remaining population that were yet to be enrolled is fully covered, adding that it can be achieved in the next 24 months.

The Director-General of NIMC, Aliyu Aziz, said the Commission would be partnering with the traditional rulers and traditional institutions all over the nation to raise awareness on the need for NIN registration and usage.

“We want to use this opportunity and platform to appeal for the active participation of the traditional institutions in drumming up support for government programmes and in this case, the National Identification project.

“Identification is a tool for empowerment and greater use of digital ID can help bring the much-needed governance and coordination in development and service delivery.

“NIMC had made great strides on so many fronts in the last three years.

“From just over 1,000 enrolment centres and 2,000 enrolment devices across the country,” he said.

Aziz said NIMC in partnership with its licensed enrolment partners had more than 15,000 enrolment centres and more than 29,000 enrolment devices deployed nationwide.

He said so far, the commission has diaspora enrolment centres in more than 40 countries, with more centres and countries scheduled to be added in the coming months.

“The more government knows the accurate number of its population and the right demographics, the better the government is placed to plan well for infrastructure, social welfare, and economic development for the country.

“This, therefore, underscores the importance of identity, and directly links to the importance of today’s commemoration of the Nigerian National Identity,” Aziz said.