The National Identity Management Commission, (NIMC), says Nigerians will have to pay for the new multipurpose national identity card due to limited government revenue.
The Head of Card Management Services at NIMC, Dr. Peter Iwegbu, who stated this at a two-day roundtable organised for journalists yesterday in Lagos, said that the payment was to ensure that it was produced for only those who needed it.
According to him, the decision was made to avoid repeating the mistake of the past efforts to issue physical cards to Nigerians for free, which many did not collect.
Iwegbu said over two million cards were produced in a previous attempt to issue free National ID cards by the NIMC, but many of them had not been collected to date. “The Government’s limited revenue is also a major factor in the decision to make Nigerians pay for the new ID card”, he explained.
Also speaking, the Director of Information Technology at NIMC, Lanre Yusuf, said the idea of a free national ID card did not turn out well in the past. He described the new ID card as a post-paid identity card, which meant that individuals must need the card before initiating a request for it.
“To get the new national ID card, Nigerians will need to make a payment, select a pickup location, and then collect their card from the chosen location”, he stated.
The Government has implemented programmes to make the card accessible to the less-privileged Nigerians who cannot afford it, but require it to access government support. This initiative demonstrates the Government’s commitment to inclusivity and equality”, Yusuf said.
He noted that the multipurpose ID cards were expected to launch soon, with sample test cards already received, adding that the NIMC had partnered with banks for Nigerians to request and collect their cards from any bank branch, in order to facilitate a seamless experience.
The card, powered by AfriGO, was launched in partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, (NIBSS). It will be enabled for all government interventions and services across multiple Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, (MDAs).
