FEC okays digital registration of 3m IDPs, e-NHIS

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the formulation of a National Policy for Digital Identification for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

The council equally approves the establishment of the National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Ali Pantami, who disclosed this on Wednesday after the federal cabinet meeting, said it was approved to fully capture the accurate number of around three million IDPs and make adequate provisions for their well-being.

“No state without IDPs in Nigeria”

Dr. Pantami said there was no state in the country without IDPs whose number is currently equivalent to one percent of the nation’s population.

The minister, who spoke of the need for the identification policy for IDPs, said getting registered in the national database of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) is mandated by law.

“As we all know that National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Act 2007 has made it mandatory that each citizen must require a National Identity Number, according to the Act’s section 5, and section 27 emphasises that it could be an offence not to acquiring the number.

“Most of us here do not have the number, but they have at least a form of identification, an official one; either driver’s license, passport for travelling and many more, but people in IDP camps do not have that usually, so we come up with a policy that will prioritise providing national identity to people living in IDPs.

“The policy has been entitled as National Policy for Digital Identification for Internally Displaced Persons.

“This digital ID will support government in knowing the total number of our IDPs, budgetary provision on how to take care of them, national planning with regards to their education, health and many more.

Pantami, while commenting on the approval for the establishment of the National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center in Abuja, which is in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said the programme is schemed to address the challenges of unemployment and citizens unemployability.

Electronic-NHIS

Similarly, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said the council also approved the Electronic National Health Insurance Scheme (e-NHIS), introducing the electronic medical records and management concept.

Ehanire, while briefing, said “this is necessary because the basic healthcare provision fund as we know is going onstream and will include a large number of people being registered so that we move away from paper management to electronic management.

“The project is being carried out by the NICOMSAT under the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy with their partner which is Galaxy Backbone to an indigenous company who were chosen in preference to a foreign company that was asking for far higher and the benefits for local content are enormous in job creation and also in data security,” he said.

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