FG abandons National ID card, opts for digital identification

By Ambrose Nnaji

The federal government of Nigerian has said as the world today no longer talking about cards as means of identification, rather digital, that it will therefore move to digital means of identification.

The plastic national identity card it said will be replaced with digital identification, as it will stop paying attention on the production of cards.

Addressing newsmen after the committee on Citizen Data Management and Harmonisation held a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday, August 13, the minister of interior, Rauf Aregbesola, spoke on the diminishing value of cards

Aregbesola

The minister who was chairman at the meeting emphasized that the attention is now on the National Identity Number (NIN), stating that
the digital process will be domiciled in the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

In his speech, the minister of communications and digital economy, Ali Pantami who was at the briefing stated that the world had gone digital and has de-emphasised cards production.

Pantami said, ”What the chairman is saying now is that we’re no more talking about cards, the world has gone digital. So, that card is no more,”

”Our priority now is digital identity, it will be attached to your database wherever you are.”Now, our focus is no longer on producing cards, that card is only for record but what is important is that the digital ID and if you notice we’ve started using the digital ID on the international passport.