The national ID card sinkhole

The scheme’s 50-year saga is a well-known one, most of it replete with outright theft of public funds and corrupt practices involving Nigerian officials and nationals of some European countries.There can be no question that a workable national identification system would be extremely beneficial to the communal sense of nationhood of the Nigerian state and […]

The scheme’s 50-year saga is a well-known one, most of it replete with outright theft of public funds and corrupt practices involving Nigerian officials and nationals of some European countries.
There can be no question that a workable national identification system would be extremely beneficial to the communal sense of nationhood of the Nigerian state and the sense of belonging among citizens that should accompany it. If the previous drives to register citizens and issue them with a national identity card had been successful, some the security challenges that the country now faces would have been better managed. They would also have addressed, to some extent, the recurring dispute between the geopolitical regions over census figures.
By the time it was re-launched in 1979, the scheme had gone through one setback after another.
The national identity card system was first conceived in 1963, but concrete action on it was taken in 1979 by the then-military head of state, Olusegun Obasanjo. A Department of National Civic Registration was established at that time, with the responsibility of issuing national identity cards to every Nigerian of 18 years and above.
The civilian administration that took over from the military in October of that year did not accord the scheme the priority it desperately needed.
However, in 2003, during Obasanjo’s second coming as elected president, the government launched an extensive national identification card drive in which everybody over 18 years of age and above was eligible to participate. While registration for the identity card was not compulsory, those who choose to participate were required to provide information that included name, age, sex, address, occupation; state of origin, local government area, height measurement, thumbprint, and passport photograph. While possession of an identity card was not required, it was necessary to have a card to obtain government services including health insurance. Of Nigeria’s estimated 120 million inhabitants at the time, about 60 million were eligible to register for the national identity card. During the registration period from February to March of 2004, and after an expenditure of over 214 million dollars (about 36. 3 billion naira), the DNCR said 52 million Nigerians registered for the cards.
A later audit later showed that only 36 million Nigerians were in fact registered in the exercise.
Every administration since the country became a republic in 1963 voted some money for a national identity card scheme.
The problem is that all these efforts came to nought, because despite the resources in time and money, the main purpose of the national identity card scheme has not been realised.
That is why President Jonathan’s upbeat assessment that the latest round he launched on October 17, 2013, in Abuja, and directing the National Identity Card Management Commission to ensure that all eligible Nigerians are registered by the end of December next year would be hardly shared by those who have followed the schemes saga.
The first hurdle to overcome is to curb the corruption that has dogged its implementation since 1979. Indeed, ensuring that those that were found culpable in the embezzlement of part of the fund for the scheme are finally prosecuted would be a good starting point.
In the previous case, foreign governments sanctioned their nationals found to be involved in bribing Nigerian officials in the scheme’s implementation. To date, no Nigerian official has been so disciplined. The government should bring closure to the case by bringing those involved to book. Biometrics is the way to go in management of vast data. But planning for it and not getting it right in over three decades does not inspire confidence that it will this time round.
The NIMC and the U.S. debit card company Master Card last May at the World Economic Forum on Africa held in South Africa announced the roll-out of 13 million MasterCard-branded National Identity Smart Cards with electronic payment capability as a pilot scheme, described as the largest roll-out of a formal electronic payment solution in the country and the broadest financial inclusion initiative of its kind in Africa.
So the potential social and economic benefits of the scheme for the country are huge; so also is the potential for grand larceny to derail it.