March 6, 2018

The House of Representative has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to recognise the slip issued by the National Identification Commission (NIMC) as a statutory document for legitimate transactions.

This followed the unanimous adoption of a motion by Rep. Ahmed Yerima (Bauchi-APC), at the plenary on Tuesday.

It mandated its Committee on Banking and Currency to interact with the CBN and other stakeholders on the need to recognise and accept the NIMC slip.

It also mandated its Committee on National Population to find out the factors responsible for the delay in producing the permanent card with a view to resolving them.

Earlier, Yerima said that NIMC was established to manage the identity of Nigerian citizens by birth and naturalisation.

The lawmaker said that to fulfill the mandate, NIMC deployed the latest Biometric Data Capturing Technology.

He said that the CBN, in its effort to maintain order and transparency in bank transactions, did not accept the national identity slip of customers.

The lawmaker said that the national identity number was a valid means of identity and might only be released for legitimate transactions.

Yerima also said that bearers of the slip would be notified when the permanent card was ready for collection and that the slip stands in place until it was produced.

He expressed concerns that the CBN had refused to recognise the national identity number slip as a means of identification.

He said the apex bank had also directed commercial banks not to recognise the slip for official transaction.

The legislator said that the slip was a proof that the permanent identification card was in process and that the slip holder was waiting to collect the card.

In his contributions, Rep. Mojib Alabi (Osun-APC), said that the identity number was what was important and not the slip or the permanent card.

He said that the slip was only issued when the biometrics data of the bearer and other relevant information had been captured.

Also, Rep. Abubakar Garba (Keats-APC), said rejecting the slip was tantamount to questioning the capacity of the agency.

He said that discrediting a slip which contained the national identity number and image of the bearer, issued by an agency saddled with the responsibility of identifying Nigerians should not be encouraged.

In his ruling, the Speaker of the house, Rep. Yakubu Dogara, mandated the committees to report back to the house in four weeks for further legislative action.