The Minister for Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, has disclosed that the mandatory National Identification Number (NIN), will enable the Federal Government and security agencies to know the identity of online users in Nigeria.
The minister revealed this while speaking at the Nigeria International Partnership Forum in Paris, France.
According to Pantami, making NIN mandatory for Nigerians is a foundation to the country’s economy and security.
The Communications minister also stated that Nigeria recently commissioned a National centre for artificial intelligence and robotics and is working to develop robots which will be deployed to keep the country safe.
“Some of these initiatives that happen to be the foundation of even our economy is the introduction of the national identification number. Nigeria has joined the global community by making the use of national identification numbers for both citizens and legal residents mandatory.”
“This is going to be the foundation of our economy and also the foundation of our security that whoever happens to go online, his identity will be known by the federal government and also by our security institution.
“As in our 1999 Constitution as amended section 14(2)(b), that the primary responsibility of government is security and safety of its citizens, it is because of this that President Muhammadu Buhari is very passionate about that and he has been pushing that we establish the foundation of our economy and the foundation of our security on the national identification number so that identity of our citizens and legal residents will be known,
“As it is today, the enrollment has been over 67 million and most importantly we are able to capture the most important category of people that come out to do businesses.
“So it becomes a prerequisite to enjoying government services and I believe this will bring more peace of mind to potential investors to know that the government has been doing something significant in that regard.
“Recently the country has also launched and commissioned a national centre for artificial intelligence and robotics that focuses more on research and coming up with innovative solutions in the area of security and now the centre in collaboration with security institutions is in the process of developing robots and many more that are going to be deployed to make our country safe and sound” Pantami said.
