President, Muhammadu Buhari, has approved the transfer of the National Identity Management Commission(NIMC) to the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.
It was learned that the approval for the transfer was based on the President’s consideration of the critical role of the NIMC towards the realization of the objectives of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Monday by Uwa Suleiman, the spokesperson to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.
The statement was entitled, “President Buhari approves the transfer of the National Identity Management Commission to the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.”
The ministry of Communication explained that the transfer would ensure that synergy and effective ministry supervisory mechanism is put in place to coordinate, monitor, and track the progress of the Federal Government’s digital transformation initiatives.
The ministry, further stated that Mr. President’s order for NIMC to be under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy is a show of the President’s trust in the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.” Dr. Isa Pantami.
The statement noted that the Communication Minister had within his first year in office resolved the communications sector’s decade-long issues of Right-of-Way charges.
Furthermore, It said the minister was also able to secure the President’s approval for the provision of security as well as the designation of telecommunications infrastructure as critical national infrastructure, among others.
However, the NIMC is mandated to create, manage, maintain, and operate the national identity database established by the NIMC Act, 2007.
In its effort to achieve this, the commission has so far registered around 41 million eligible enrollees for the National Identity Number.
On the part of the Nigerian Communications Commission(NCC), the Commission has details of over 191 million mobile subscribers.
Furthermore, it was gathered the National Information Technology Development Agency( NITDA) has recorded a huge success in the development and implementation of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation, the country’s first codified data protection regulation.
According to the Agency statement, it said it had also reached an advanced stage on the implementation of the National Public Key Infrastructure.
It added that Galaxy Backbone Limited was also providing services to government agencies, such as infrastructure, software, etc.
“Therefore the Ministry stated that for NIMC, NCC, NITDA, and GBB to work closely together under the supervision of one ministry towards bringing into completion what has already been achieved cannot be overemphasized,”.