Abuja, Nov.23, 2014 (NAN) The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) on Saturday set up a technical commitee to harmonise the delivery process of the electronic identiy cards (E-ID cards).
This is contained in a statement jointly signed by Chukwuemeka Obua and Abdulhamid Umar, the Public Relation Officers of the organisations respectively, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
The statement said both organisations had agreed to harmonise grey areas and work assiduously towards the delivery of the cards to Nigerians.
The statement quoted the Director General of NIMC, Mr Chris OnYemenam, as saying that: “NIMC will continue to make efforts to deepen existing collaborations between both organisations with regards to identity establishment and management.
“NIMC also aims to leverage on the existing relationship between it and NIS for better identity management and national security.”
Onyemenam said the essence of the national identity project was to assign the National Identity Number (NIN) to genuine Nigerians for identity management in tandem with international standards.
He said NIS had been collaborating with the commission in vetting those enrolled for the national identity cards thereby reducing the possibility of non – Nigerians having access to the document.
He commended the management of the NIS for collaborating with the commission towards the national e-ID card project.
The statement also quoted Mr David Parradang, the Comptroller General of NIS, as advising the commission to continue to place the interest of the nation first while discharging it’s statutory duties adding that identification was paramount to national interest and security.
The CG emphasised the need for a more robust partnership between the two agencies so that only authentic Nigerians could be issued the e-ID cards.
He said the NIS had over time developed skills and competencies to identify genuine Nigerians which could be used by the NIMC in the discharge of its duties.
Parradang stressed the need for continuous close partnership between officials of both organisations to ensure the cards do not fall into the wrong hands. (NAN)
