Mrs Aisha Buhari, wife of Nigeria’s President, has joined a growing list of high-profile Nigerians enrolled into the National Identity Database of Nigeria.
The National Identification Number (NIN) managed by the National Identification Management Commission (NIMC) captures the information of Nigerians for the National ID card, and several other security and planning purposes, according to the government agency.
NIMC announced that top management of the agency led by Hadiza Dagabana, General Manager Legal/Regulation at NIMC were on ground at the Presidential Villa to receive Mrs Buhari at the enrolment booth to capture her data.
The President’s wife was later presented with her NIN slip and congratulated for being enrolled into the National Database of Nigeria.
In a brief response, she thanked the high powered delegation of female management staff of NIMC for their presence, support and contribution to national development, NIMC said in a statement.
Apart from Mrs Buhari, Dr Bukola Saraki, Senate President for Nigeria also recently enrolled for his NIN in Abuja. Saraki was received at the NIN Enrolment Centre by the Director General and Chief Executive Officer of NIMC, Engr. Aliyu A. Aziz, accompanied by the General Manager Operations, Mr. Abdul-hamid Umar.
Shortly after he was enrolled, the Senate President went into a brief meeting with the NIMC team during which he assured them of the strategic relevance of the National Identity Management System (NIMS) to national planning and to security. Saraki also commended NIMC for a job well done so far.
According to him, “I commend the leadership of the commission for the work that they are doing to update Nigeria’s identity management system. When fully implemented, NIMC’s comprehensive database will provide a convenient and low-cost additional tier of security for our nation.”
In same vein, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President of Nigeria was also successfully enrolled for the (NIN) recently in Abuja.
In a brief exercise supervised by Engr. Aliyu Aziz, the DG/CEO NIMC, the former Vice President and his wife were both enrolled and issued their National Identification Numbers.
Speaking with the DG/CEO after he was enrolled, Abubakar thanked the Commission’s management for the honor of having his enrollment exercise done specially. He reflected on his role in the setting up of the NIMC and the NHIS during his tenure as Vice President to President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“I want to recall that when I was in office, I launched the National identity Management Scheme, as well as the National Health Insurance Scheme. When we came to office in 1999, we found out that these were two schemes that had being in the opening for the past 40 years. And we felt that it was time for us to begin to implement those schemes by updating them, to meet the contemporary, and technological advances, in the world”, Atiku was quoted in a NIMC press statement as saying.