Aliyu Aziz , the Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, in this brief chat with our correspondent, Theresa Igata, explains how the Commission has been meeting its target.

We have over 24 million people registered in our database currently. When I assumed office we had just 7 million. Our target by December is 28 million. We have been doubling the figure. By next year we’re looking at 56 million and grow in that manner. We have the capacity to capture people.

NIMC collaborations

We’re collaborating with NIBSS. Wherever there’s a NIBSS system they can capture data for NIMC and so it is with INEC etc. That is the way we’re going now so that we’ll be able to finish the whole population. We target that in 3 years we’ll be able to have finished.

More than 9 million of the records we have is from BVN, then we have some from INEC, the NCC etc. which we’re integrating. We’re so far working with 3 agencies in Nigeria. We expect other agencies to be able to use the information infrastructure to harmonise from their own end because we do not want data to be dumped in NIMC.

About 40 per cent of those who are on the BVN are already on the NIMC database. Harmonisation does not mean that you’ll have only one central database. It means that whoever in on any of these other functional databases is also in the main database

The banks are accepting the NIN. The slip is called National Identification Number slip; it is not temporary, it is what will allow us carry out all our transactions.

The NIN is the most important thing in the digital environment as we have it now. The number is digital and is your identity. The most important thing about this is that it has the public key infrastructure in it, therefore you have digital certificate that will allow you to digitally sign documents or encrypt your documents or email.

Nigerians in the Diaspora and 2018 NIN deadline

We have 809 centres in Nigeria, so any individual in Nigeria can go and obtain the NIN. If you have the NIN you can either obtain or renew your passport. But Nigerians that are in diaspora may have issues but we can extend for them and we’re building a system with the immigration and by January it will be ready so that they can enrol wherever they can get their passport.

NIMC does not have enrolment centres outside Nigeria but immigration has, where people can obtain passport; so we’re collaborating with them now so that people can go there and get their NIN.