Jonathan Launches National Electronic Identity Card.

 President Goodluck Jonathan  

Original Post By Emma Okonji

President Goodluck Jonathan  will today in Abuja, launch the National Electronic Identity Card for all Nigerians.

The launch event is a remarkable milestone in the National Identity Management System (NIMS) as well as a huge achievement in the overall objectives of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), which has the responsibility to create, maintain and operate the national identity database.

Although the registration is ongoing nationwide, Jonathan had earlier directed NIMC to conclude registration by December this year.

NIMC also has the mandate to issue a unique National Identification Number (NIN) to all eligible citizens, provide a secure means to access the national identity database in order to authenticate and verify identities, and to issue the e-ID Card to every eligible citizen.
The National e-ID Card which will be officially unveiled at the State House Banquet hall, Abuja today, is a multi-purpose card for identification, electronic signatures, biometric on-card verification, and other applications.
The Card which would subsequently be issued to all Nigerians who have successfully enrolled for the National Identification Number (NIN), has five applications already activated at issuance, with a built in capacity to host more applications on request.

Director, Corporate Communications of NIMC, Anthony Okwudiafor who gave the information, said the process of activating applications on the card would be done in phases.

The first phase according to him, would include International Civil Aviation Organisation, which has to do with compliant travel application to be used as a Machine Readable Travel Document (MRTD), for local/regional travel;
Nigerian Electronic Identity (‘eID’) application to be used to authenticate an individual’s identity; Electronic Public Key Infrastructure (‘ePKI’), as application to be used for identification, authentication and digital signatures; Fingerprint Match-on-Card (‘MoC’) functionality to be used for biometric verification; Banking application (‘EMV’) to be used for deposit, withdrawal, payment, transfer, inquiry; while phase two would be Drivers’ License (IDL) - to be used as international driver’s license;

Transport application to be used for loading credits/units on local bus terminals; Tax application to be used to make tax payments, verify payments; Voter ID application to be used to cast a vote; Pension application, to be used to manage retirement savings account; NHIS application for e-health, to be used to upgrade, renew, health insurance; Insurance application to be used to subscribe to insurance policy, renew insurance policy; SIM application to be used as repository for saving a cardholders personal numbers previously registered with the telecoms regulator; and Custom tool used to save space for more applets in the future.

Those expected at the card launch include the Vice President Namadi Sambo; Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim; Honorable Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, representatives from International Agencies; Divisional President, sub Sahara Africa, MasterCard, Mr. Daniel Monehin; the Group Managing Director, Access Bank, Mr. Herbert Wigwe; representatives from the NIMC Harmonisation and Integration Committee, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), among others.