By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, has warned that Nigerians who are yet to register for the National Identification Number risk 14 years imprisonment as stipulated by the constitution.
Pantami said this on Thursday at the weekly Presidential Media briefing organized by the Presidential Communication Media Team in Abuja.
According to him, 51 million Nigerians have enrolled for the National Identification Number as of March 31, 2021.
He said, “Based on the requirement by law each and every citizen and legal resident must obtain his/her National Identification Number, which is being coordinated by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC). It’s a requirement by law but many citizens ignore it.
“What we achieved in the area of enrolment from the time Mr President has directed me to supervise NIMC till date is unprecedented and we would continue to ensure that in the next few years we have an almost a complete data base of all our citizens in the country.
“No country will be successful in education, health, budget planning or national planning without data base of its citizens in place.
“What I inherited in the database was less than 20 per cent of our population. But we want to ensure that before we leave office we would look at the database and be proud of our country.”