NIMC To Enrol Nigerians Living With Disabilities Using Special Machines

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has reassured
Nigerians living with disabilities that they would be enrolled in the
National Identity Card Scheme.

The Director-General of the commission, Mr Chris Onyemenam, gave the
assurance in an interview in Abuja on Wednesday.

Onyemenam said that the commission was committed to ensuring that all
Nigerians were captured in the scheme to assist government to have a
reliable data bank of Nigerians.

"It has not been easy to enrol Nigerians living with disabilities but
the commission has concluded plans to deploy special machines for that
purpose.

"For those who are partially challenged, the special machine will be
strong enough to capture their finger prints.

"But for those without fingers, we will deploy an iris machine that
can capture their eyeballs.

"The idea is to personalise each enrolee's details and to create an
authentic data bank for the country,'' he said.

The director-general said that five million Nigerians had been
registered in the scheme till date, adding that collection of the
identity cards had begun.

He also said that the cards would be used for multipurpose functions.

"As at now, about five million Nigerians have enrolled in the scheme
and more are coming to enrol.

"The turnout was very low at the initial stage but since the card was
displayed to the public when the President collected his, the turnout
of enrolees has increased.

"We are working hard to ensure that all Nigerians are captured in this
scheme,'' he said.

Onyemenam said that the national identity card would expire after 10
years, after which Nigerians would be required to pay a token amount
of money for renewal.

--(NAN)