The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have agreed to immediately commence implementation of the Presidential directive on harmonization and integration of Biometric Data capture by the various government concerned parastatals. To conclusively achieve this, both Commissions have set up a joint technical committee to work out modalities for the seamless integration of INEC Database into the National Identity Database managed by NIMC.

Director General, National Identity Management Commission, Barr. Chris Onyemenam, during his visit to the INEC headquarters recently, noted that it has become expedient for all government agencies to do the needful to stop further duplication of data bases which he said is not only wasteful, time consuming and unpopular but also incongruent with global best practices.

Onymenam, while felicitating with the Ag. Chairman of INEC, Hajia Amina Zakari, on INEC’s successful conduct of the 2015 general elections and her recent appointment as the Acting Chairman, said the harmonization and integration of Biometrics Data captured as used by INEC in the last general election would help populate the National Identity Database (NIDB) when successfully harmonized.

Speaking on NIMC’s readiness, Barr. Onyemenam said “NIMC has the primary mandate to establish National Identity Infrastructure for Nigeria and as such NIMC has go on to deploy end to end unique identity infrastructure that is secure and scalable for Nigeria”. He mentioned the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Ministry of Agriculture (for the enrolment of farmers) and others as the collaborating agencies.

Briefing the commission on the achievement of NIMC, Barrister Onyemenam told INEC Chairman that NIMC has deployed authentication and Verification services to some banks and security agencies, similar services would be extended to some government agencies for testing soon.

In her response, the Ag. Chairman of the INEC, Hajia Amina Zakari, thanked the Director General and his management team for the visit, while appreciating the commission for establishing the National Identity Database. She announced that INEC has a data bank of over 70 million Nigerians of 18 years and above, adding that INEC was willing to comply with the presidential directive on harmonisation.

It will be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had on 25th August, 2015 enrolled for the  National Identification Number (NIN) at the NIMC enrolment Centre located in the state House, during which he called on all eligible Nigerians to enroll, while directing all data collecting agencies to harmonize with NIMC to enable Nigerians confirm its population, especially of those aged 18 years and above for future election purposes.