Over 100 million Nigerians have no identity – commission

The Director-General of National Identity Management Commission, Aliyu Aziz Abubakar, says that the commission was targeting over 100 million Nigerians for registration.

Abubakar, who stated this on Wednesday during a webinar meeting with editors, said the move was to ensure that Nigerians have proper identification.

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Speaking on the topic, ‘Strategic Roadmap for ID Development,’ he said the commission was specifically targeting the poor and vulnerable groups.

He added that the government must have data in order to plan for the future.

According to him: “Over 100 million Nigerians have no identity.

“These include the poorest and the most vulnerable groups, such as the marginalised – women and girls, the less-educated people, migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, people with disabilities and people living in rural and remote areas.

“The estimated population of Nigeria stands at 200 million.

“Only about 38 per cent of the population have any form of ID,’’ he said.

According to the NIMC boss, the commission had enrolled and issued 41.5 million unique identifiers, known as National Identification Numbers, since the commencement of identity registration and enrolment in 2012.

“Between 2012 till date, only 41.5 million citizens and legal residents have been enrolled into the National Identity Database and issued unique NIN, an average of 5.2 million enrolments per annum.