LAGOS – The N30 billion earmarked for the national identity management system,NIMS, is to be utilised over three years, commencing this quarter, the government agency responsible for the implementation of the harmonised identity scheme has explained.
In a statement, yesterday, the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, clarified that the new scheme would integrate other law enforcement systems now in use and enhance their operations in the maintenance of law and order.
According to Head, Corporate Communication of the commission, Mr. Anthony Okwudiafor: ”NIMS will “enhance the work of the law enforcement agencies towards maintenance of law and order, preservation of lives and property and the fight against corruption, unknown, duplicate, multiple and ghost identities and related frauds (advance fee frauds, among others.
He said: “Contrary to views expressed by some people, the approval is not for the award of any contract in the sum of N30.066bn. It is also not for the commencement of another project that is different from NIMS.
”Furthermore, the money which will be provided to the commission over the next three years (starting from the last quarter of 2011) consists of a sum of N23.074bn for the procurement of the redesigned, multi-application national identity card utilising advances in smart card technology and having ICAO-compliant machine readable zone,MRZ, making it an acceptable future travel document.”
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