NIMC Denies Suspending Issuance Of National Identity Card

NIMC Denies Suspending Issuance Of National Identity Card

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) on Monday said reports that it had suspended issuance of the national identity card to Nigerians was untrue.

Rather, collection of cards by persons who had completed the enrolment processes would commence from April 3, the agency said.

“We wish to inform the general public that the report … is false and misleading as the Commission has not suspended the issuance of Cards to successful enrollees at any time,” the commission said in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES in Abuja.

The statement by the spokesperson of the commission, Loveday Ogbonna, said all individuals who completed their enrolment procedures must have received an SMS inviting them to proceed to the NIMC Office they enrolled to pick up their cards from Tuesday.

Ms Ogbonna said persons yet to receive any SMS were advised to check the status of their cards on the NIMC website: www.nimc.gov.ng.

Besides, Nigerians and legal residents who relocated from where they enrolled were advised to visit any NIMC office closest to them to request, fill and submit a card transfer form to the state coordinator for processing.

Regardless, the spokesperson reminded Nigerians and legal residents that the National Identification Number (NIN) was not only the unique identifier, but also the most important token issued by the commission and not the physical electronic-ID card.

She explained that the NIN was a set of 11 non-intelligent numbers randomly assigned to an individual at the completion of enrolment into the National Identity Database (NIDB).

The NIN used to tie all records about an individual in the database, she noted, was verifiable through the NIMC Verification Service (NVS) portal made available to institutions and organisations upon request.

Section 27 (1) and (2) of the NIMC Act, 2007, identified all transactions that would mandatorily require being with the NIN.

They include application for and issuance of an international passport; opening of individual and/or group bank accounts; all consumer credits; purchase of insurance policies; purchase, transfer and registration of land by any individual.

Others are registration under the National Health Insurance Scheme, and such transactions having social security implications, registration of voters, payment of taxes, and pensions.