The House of Representatives, during plenary, on Wednesday, called on the National Identity Management Commission to redesign the national identity card such that the National Identity Number of the bearer is written on it.
The call followed the unanimous adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by a member of the House, Fredrick Agbedi.
Moving the motion titled ‘Need to Have National Identity Number Displayed on the National Identity Card,’ Agbedi noted that the NIN is used by the government of many countries as a means of tracking their citizens’ permanent and temporary residency for work and other purposes.
According to him, the NIN, which matches one’s biometrics, is used for virtually all transactions in Nigeria requiring identity verification.
Agbedi said, “Recently, the Commission started issuing a digital ID card which displays only the name, age and nationality of the holder without displaying the NIN number. The Commission failed to include the NIN to the ID card and it has brought untold hardship to the citizens who, in a bid to retrieve their NIN via shortcodes provided by telecommunications providers, pay for the service.”
Adopting the motion, the lawmakers urged NIMC to redesign the national identity cards.