President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the transfer of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.
This was revealed in a statement issued on Monday by Uwa Suleiman, the spokesperson to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.
He that the the transfer would ensure that synergy and effective ministry supervisory mechanism is put in place to coordinate, monitor and track the progress of Federal Government’s digital transformation initiatives.
The statement stated that Pantami had within his first year in office resolved the communications sector’s decade-long dilemma of Right-of-Way charges.
It said Pantami was also able to secure the President’s approval for the provision of security as well as designation of telecommunications infrastructure as critical national infrastructure, among others.
The NIMC is mandated to create, manage, maintain and operate the national identity database established by the NIMC Act, 2007.
In an effort to realise this, the commission has so far registered around 41 million eligible enrollees for the National Identity Number.
The Nigerian Communications Commission on the other hand has details of over 191 million mobile subscribers.
Furthermore, the National Information Technology Development Agency has recorded huge successes in the development and implementation of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation, the country’s first codified data protection regulation.
