THE weekly Federal Executive Council, FEC, yesterday rose from a prolonged session with an approval for the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, to embark on the provision of an electronic national identity card for all Nigerians of 18 years old and above, at the cost of N30.66 billion.
The FEC meeting which was presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan, with Vice President Namadi Sambo, said the project entails the development of a comprehensive, biometric database for all Nigerian adults.
The meeting also approved the pulling together of all planning professionals and the establishment of Planning and policy analysis cadre for all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, to meet up with the current expectations of the present government for effective projects execution, evaluation and monitoring, as well as analysis.
The Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, who briefed State House Correspondents, at the end of the meeting which lasted for about eight hours disclosed that the e-national identity would assist Nigeria tackle some security issues as well as solve so many statistics challenges in various sectors of the economy.
He disclosed that “the unified identity Management System, NIMS, for Nigeria was today approved by the Federal Executive Council for implementation”.
