The Akwa Ibom State Government has inaugurated a 9-member Committee, headed by the Chief of Staff to Governor Udom Emmanuel, Akparawa Ephraim Inyang, to oversee the proposed enrolment of its citizens and residents into the National Identity Database.
Inaugurating the Committee at Government House, Uyo, on Friday, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, said the Committee was to enable indigenes and those residing in the state to get registered under the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
Dr Ekuwem charged members of the Committee,whom he described as round peg in a round hole to work in collaboration with the NIMC to deliver on their assigned responsibility in order to accomplish government’s objectives of the committee, bearing in mind the importance of the National Identity Card.
“The work of this committee is indispensable to the socio-economic growth and development of Akwa Ibom State. Right now, the Ministry of Labour and Manpower are developing database of the totality of all unemployed Akwa Ibomites. This is in line with the directive of the Governor. So, the work of this committee will be very useful and indispensable to the work of Ministry of Labour and Manpower,” SSG stated.
The State Chief Scribe, who described Governor Udom Emmanuel as a man of data, expressed the hope that with the commitment of the Governor in data generation, Akwa Ibom will become the smartest State in the country.
Responding on behalf of the Committee, Akparawa Ephraim Inyang thanked the State Government for finding them worthy to carry out the task and pledged to justify the confidence reposed in them.
He said the job of the Committee is to galvanize the people of the State to participate in the data capturing in view of the fact that the Federal Government may resort to use the National Identity card as a primary source of identifying and reflecting on our population.
Describing the assignment of the Committee as critical, Akparawa Inyang added that “the Committee is to give the State Government data to plan for the actual people that are living in the state.”
The Committee has the Head of the Legal Unit, Department of Multilateral and Donor Agencies, Office of the Governor, Barr Blessing Udofa, as Secretary.
Other members of the Committee include the Commissioner for Economic Development and Ibom Deep Seaport, Mr. Akan Okon; the State’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Barr Uwemedimo Nwoko; Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon Frank Archibong;Â Commissioner for Science and Technology, Dr Imoh Moffat; Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Multilateral and Donor Agencies, Ndiana-Nana Udom; Special Assistant to the Governor on ICT, Mr Solomon Eyo, and the representative of the Civil Societies Organisation, Barr Eno-obong Akpan.
It would be recalled that the Federal Government had inaugurated a steering committee for Nigeria Digital Identity for Development of Ecosystem project aimed at fast-tracking the
implementation of strategic roadmap for digital Ecosystem in Nigeria.
The Digital Identity Ecosystem, which is a framework that leverages on the existing capabilities and infrastructure of distinct government agencies and private sector organisations, is to carry out enrolment of Nigerians and legal residents into the National Identity Database (NIDB) as well as issuance of digital National Identification Number (NIN) to give Nigeria a credible Identity management system.
