CITIZENS COMPASS– A Chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Delta State Gubernatorial Aspirant, Chief Sunny Onuesoke has said that the National Identification Number (NIN), Permanent Voters Card (PVC) and Bank Verification Number (BVN) serve same purposes for Nigerians.
He condemned the proliferation of such describing it as waste of funds, time, human resources, capital and misplacement of priorities on the part of government.
Onuesoke who made the statement recently while addressing newsmen in Asaba, Delta State wondered why government duplicate in a most inefficient manner different forms of identifications for different events when all one needs is just a credible form of identification.
The PDP Chieftain noted that the information on individuals sought by government for NIN registration already existed in several platforms through multiple data platforms such as BVN, international passport, driver’s license, SIM card registration and voters’ card.
He argued that the statutory duty to harmonize and integrate existing data for the purposes of NIN and SIM card registration should not be difficult to carry out as the Nigeria Immigration Service, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) are already members of the Board of the NIMC by virtue of section 2[1][b] of the NIMC Act.
Onuesoke pointed that in the United States of America and other foreign countries, all one needs to cast his or her vote is means of identification from the government and nothing more.
According to him, “In a country with almost nothing to offer, we have too many means of identifucation that serve no purpose to the people. What is the essence of multiple identification for the same purpose in Nigeria? This is wasteful.
“You don’t even need an ID in United Kingdom. Your name is already there. Just tell them your name and address. Why am I using US and UK as example? People will think it is big thing. African countries like Togo, South African even Ivory Coast use their ID to vote. For Nigeria to work we need a single working ID card.
“I have been saying this. With the records from NIN and BVN, issues like underage voting could be easily tackled. But the identity mess has created another problem. With the BVN, we can ensure each vote is cast just once. Why do we need other biometric data banks when NIBBS has the most trustworthy,” he queried.
