By Dipo Olowookere
The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), an agency that registers Nigerians on a national database, has commenced the registration of Nigerians living in the United States of America (USA).
The registration is part of the agencies commitment to include Nigerians in Diaspora into the National Identity Database. At the moment, the scheme covers those living in Nigeria, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
The National Identification Number (NIN) enrolment exercise, which will involve the demographic and biometrics data capture of all Nigerian citizens residing in the USA, is in collaboration with Thebez Global Resources Ltd, Defcon Systems Limited and National eAuthentication Limited (NeAL), Nigerian companies licensed by the NIMC to serve as its agents, and carry out enrolment services across the globe with a view to ensuring best-in-class services and inclusivity.
Director General/CEO of NIMC, Mr Aliyu Aziz, reiterated that the extension is in line with NIMC’s mandate to ensure that all Nigerian citizens in Nigeria, those in the Diaspora and Legal Residents in Nigeria are enrolled into the National Identity Database and issued the unique NIN to applicants upon successful enrolment.
“The programme will make it easier for Nigerians in Diaspora to be identified, as the Federal Government of Nigeria has made the possession of NIN a mandatory requirement for elections, Bank account opening, Land Transactions, access to Legal/health services, acquisition/renewal of the International Passport, Driver’s License and the ECOWAS travel document, amongst others.” Mr Aziz stated.
According to the Head of Corporate Communications at NIMC, Loveday Chika Ogbonna, the programme is scheduled to go live from Tuesday, May 28, 2019 in Washington DC at 11900 Parklawn Drive, Suite 160 Rockville, MD 20852.Other locations.
The commencement dates across the United States are:
- 1001 Texas Avenue, Suite 5050 (Level 5) Houston, Texas, Tuesday, May 28, 2019
- 9894 Bissonet Street, Suite 745 Houston, Texas, TX 77036, Tuesday, May 28, 2019
- 370 Lexington Avenue, Suite 1505, New York, NY 10017, Thursday, May 30, 2019
- 336 West 37th Street Suit 500, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10018, Thursday, May 30, 2019
918 Holcomb Bridge Road, Suite 204 Roswell, Atlanta, Georgia, GA 30076, Friday, May 31, 2019.
Ogbonna said additional locations in other cities across the globe where Nigerians reside would be announced in due course.
The Nigerian companies licensed to work with their respective partners across all countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and America to carry out the enrolment of Nigerian adults and children in the Diaspora into the National Identity Database (NIDB) are Biosec Solutions Limited, CHAMS Consortium Limited, Defcon Systems Limited, National eAuthentication Limited, Thebez Global Resources and Venn Technology Limited.