In a bid to raise awareness on the important role digital identity plays in empowering individuals to exercise their rights and responsibilities in the society, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) organised a National Identity Day event in recognition of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), in which Target 16.9 of the SDG document calls for legal identity for all including birth registration by 2030.
The Honorable Minister of Communications, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami FNCS, FBCS who was represented by the Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi CCIE said that awareness creation enables citizens to exercise their rights and responsibilities fairly and equitably in a modern society.
“It also provides a platform for Nigerians to assemble and assess their progress towards achieving one of the most fundamental human development goals”.
The DG made this known while giving the good will message during the National Identity Day event which took place at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.
He stated that NITDA has been working with NIMC overtime and had issued three regulatory instruments to support the digital identity project, namely; Nigeria e-Government Interoperability Framework (Ne-GIF), Nigeria Data Protection Regulation, and Nigeria Enterprise Government Architecture.
He further applauded the efforts of NIMC for the gaint stride towards digital identity bringing about the advancement of the IT sector of the country.
Earlier, the Director General and Chief Executive Officer NIMC, Engr Aliyu Aziz, while delivering his remark said that the campaign for every 16 September to be recognised as International Identity Day was officially launched by ID4Africa Movement, at its 4th Annual meeting which was hosted by NIMC.
“The International day observance is an effective and practical way of raising awareness and generating momentum around the identity of citizens”, he said.
The highlight of the event was the unveiling of the International Identity Emblem.
