Ali Isa Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, has said that as entrenched in the constitution of the country, Nigerians who do not have their National Identification Number (NIN) risk up to 14 years imprisonment.
The minister stated that although, owning a SIM card is optional, having the NIN will be the license to carry out a lot of transactions.
According to Pantami, as of March 31, 2021, 189 million Nigerians had registered SIM cards, while only 51 million had registered for their NIN.
He made this statement at a State House press briefing on Thursday.
The minister said:
“Based on the requirement by law, each and every citizen and legal resident must obtain his/her National Identification Number (NIN), which is being coordinated by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
“It’s a requirement by law but many citizens ignore it.
“No country will be successful in education, health, budget planning or national planning without a database of its citizens in place.
“What I inherited in the database was less than 20 percent 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.”
Source: Sahara Reporters.
Featured Image Source: Wikipedia.
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