I defeated those who tried to stop the introduction of the NIM - Pantami

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami, has revealed that he has received several threats from some citizens following the implementation of the National Identity Policy.

Furthermore, Pantami revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari's administration had increased the national identity database by 150% in three years.

Pantami made the revelation in his remarks at the commemoration of this year's National Identity Day titled "Institutions as Critical Stakeholders for Citizen Mobilization", in Abuja on Friday.

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He praised the success of the policy despite strong opposition.

He added that the digital economy sector pays more money to the FG government than any other sector.

Explaining the importance of digital identity for development, he noted that: “According to the World Bank, one billion people have no legal identification, especially in Africa. 'countless challenges in Africa, because we don't have data to plan for our citizens'.

He pointed out that Nigeria has captured more citizens in its national identity database than other African countries.

The Minister said that the essence of the event is to remind citizens why digital identity is important.

“We can only succeed in our digital economy if we continue to improve and encourage our citizens to register in our national database. When I took over the supervision of the NIMC, the total number of registration centers did not reach 1,000, but today we have more than 5,000.

“Today our national database is in automatic mode. We have established over 19 national policies and all are being implemented. This has never happened in the history of Nigeria.

"When we started the process, many people turned against me.

"My life has been threatened because of the introduction of the NIN and SIM card registration on BBC radio and many others and I have resisted believing that no one can control my life in this world, only Almighty God. They have been defeated."

Earlier, the Director General/CEO of NIMC reiterated his commitment to partner with traditional leaders, religious leaders and other stakeholders to ensure that the majority of rural communities are captured.

He further added that the commission has achieved considerable infrastructural development, which has resulted in an increase in NIN registrations across the country over the past three years.

“NIMC has made great strides on many fronts over the past three years. From just over 1,000 enrollment centers and 2,000 enrollment devices across the country, NIMC, in partnership with its Authorized Enrollment Partners, now has over 15,000 enrollment centers and over 29,000 enrollment devices deployed nationwide, which is one of the reasons why enrollments have increased dramatically with over 89 million NIN successfully generated.

“Internationally, the NIMC now has Diaspora Registration Centers in over 40 countries, with more centers and countries expected to be added in the coming months. diaspora the opportunity to register and maintain their national identity even outside the shores of Nigeria,” he said.

Chairman, National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Kwarra, Executive Chairman of ID4Africa, Dr. Joseph Atick, Representatives of the National Information Technology Development Agency, Director of IT Infrastructure Solutions, Dr Usman Abdullahi, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and other agencies were present.

Recall that in April, Buhari led the implementation of the NIN-SIM policy and ordered telephone companies (Telcos) to ban all outgoing calls on unbound cell phone lines. Subsequently, government agencies such as the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) and others made the NIN mandatory.

In 2019, the Federal Government of Nigeria approved the recognition and observance of September 16 each year as National Identity Day.