What is NIMC doing?

He claimed to be a doctor on a practice license he allegedly stole from his friend. The fake doctor who was a top official of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) worked since 2006 under the name of Dr. George Davidson Daniel until his arrest recently in Abuja. The Medical and Dental Council of […]

He claimed to be a doctor on a practice license he allegedly stole from his friend. The fake doctor who was a top official of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) worked since 2006 under the name of Dr. George Davidson Daniel until his arrest recently in Abuja.
The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) which registers all medical doctors in Nigeria and regulates their practice called for the arrest of the fake doctor after its own investigations uncovered two Dr. Daniels; the same name on two separate identity photographs. The MDCN had earlier been petitioned to investigate complaints against Dr. Daniel who worked with the NCDC. Investigations revealed that the photograph in MDCN’s database was not that of the fake doctor. The actual person that bears the name is a doctor doing his residency at the Jos University Teaching Hospital.
The real Daniel appeared before the MDCN on invitation and identified the fake doctor as Martins Ugwu. Dr. Daniel said Martins was his childhood friend and was the best man at his 2006 wedding. Daniel explained that he lost his credentials when both of them (Daniel and Martins), in their search for jobs, visited an uncle in Abuja. Daniel told the investigators that he did not report that his documents were stolen because he thought he misplaced them. A year later, Martins returned Daniel’s certificates; claiming that a Good Samaritan had found and sent them back.
The fact that Martins who rose on a fast-track to directorate cadre was able to beat all verification and screening exercises for a period long enough to earn gratuity reveals how loose, corrupt and fraudulent the Nigerian civil service has been. The MDCN says it is currently prosecuting 40 cases of quack doctors in courts. This is quite disturbing; given the consequences of having such a large number of unqualified medical personnel practicing what they do not know. God knows how many Nigerians have been sent to their early graves by such quacks.  
The incidence of forgery and impersonation in the country is alarming because pervasive corruption is inhibiting government from taking due advantage of modern technology which has the systematic capacity to effectively check forgery and impersonation. Similarly, the failure of the national identity card scheme is more than any other factor responsible for the inability of relevant security and law enforcement agencies to achieve reasonable success in the fight against crimes.
It also explains why an accused or ex-convict audaciously describes his prosecution as a mistaken identity in order to justify his eligibility to contest in an election. Intelligence gathering would have greatly improved if the national identity card project had succeeded as designed. Like the power sector, successive administrations in Nigeria unfortunately turned the project over the years into a sink hole from which billions of naira appropriated for the exercise were siphoned.  
So much was embezzled in the project under the failed Directorate of National Civic Registration (DNCR) that the name had to be changed in 2007 to National Identity Card Management Commission (NIMC). If any forensic probe were to be conducted on the over three-decades-old exercise called national identity card project, no minister of internal affairs who served between 1980 and 2015 would escape jail. In spite of the huge resources expended on it, many Nigerians are not aware of anything called national e-card.
The NIMC was set up to among other mandates create and operate a National Identity Database (NIDB); issue unique National Identification Numbers (NIN) to citizens and legal residents; issue a general multipurpose e-Card to every registered person; provide Identity Verification services platform; harmonise and integrate existing identity databases in government agencies. These primary functions of NIMC are designed to check forgery, impersonation and other fraudulent practices.
Nigerians today go through the stress of carrying multiple identity cards at a time because the NIMC is yet to accomplish its basic functions. As you leave your house to your workplace every morning, you are compelled to carry your staff identity card, driver’s license, ATM card, library card, hospital card (on a day you are ill), and voter’s card (on election days).
The NIN on the e-Card, which is unique for every registered person, is designed to provide access to the bearer’s basic bio-data. If the national identity card project had succeeded, one would not be required to have a passport photograph or thumb print any paper or fill any form at the point of opening a bank account, obtaining a driver’s license, applying for an international passport, registering with professional bodies, updating a voter’s card or registering a GSM SIM card because such information are expected to be readily available and accessible from the NIDB through the personal NIN of individuals. Our failure to have a harmonised and integrated national database makes it easy for people like Martins Ugwu to fake their identities without being caught for many years. This explains why we have fake nurses, fake army colonels, fake journalists, fake chiefs, fake imams, fake pastors, fake professors, fake lawyers, fake accident victims, etc.
Since no two individuals have the same thumb print, the NIDB would provide a credible clue for tracking criminals. Achieving this is regrettably not feasible now because the existing system allows for an individual to have as many different names and dates of birth as his number of identity cards. The True-Caller application on my mobile phone has revealed some fake identities to me including that of a man from Niger State who registered his SIM with a female photograph and an Igbo name. This is due to the absence of an integrated NIDB.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), I guess, borrowed from this technology to block multiple registrations by prospective voters as well as in its use of smart card readers to check impersonation. We cannot also be too sure that there are no other Martins Ugwus as lecturers in our universities; or as officers serving in different military or para-military institutions. What is NIMC doing?
With President Muhammadu Buhari prioritising security and the fight against corruption, it would be to the credit of his administration if the NIMC is made to effectively accomplish the functions for which it was established, including the tackling of forgery and impersonation. May Allah (SWT) guide President Buhari and his team unto the path of success, amin.