[January 06, 2009] 14 Million Errors Detected in ID Card Scheme Tweet Abuja, Jan 06, 2009 (This Day/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- Dream of millions of Nigerians to get their National Identity Cards may remain a mirage, as about 14 million errors had been detected in the National Identity Card Scheme. Available statistics indicate that only 37.9million out of the country's 140 million population had their data correctly encoded during the exercise that took place five years ago. Director General, National Identity Management Commis-sion, Mr Chris Onyemenam, disclosed this yesterday, when he appeared before House of Representatives Committee on Interior, to defend implementation of the 2008 budget and 2009 proposals for the scheme. He said the scheme, which had suffered several hiccups over the years, still had some problems, adding that when the commission came on stream, identity cards of about six states were found abandoned in the warehouse of the scheme, due to a faulty system of card distribution that was in place. Onyemenam said since the commission took over assets and liabilities of the defunct Department of National Civic Registration (DNCR), the task of re-positioning the scheme had been very challenging, because of the transition from a mere department within the Federal Ministry of Interior to a full fledged institution, adding that the commission was determined to revolutionise the scheme and bring it at par with similar schemes in the developed world. Defending the millions of naira proposed to be spent on the upgrade of the scheme, as well as providing access to the national identity card database, Onyemenam said part of the funds will be deployed to the establishment of a Disaster Recovery Site at a location outside Abuja. The proposed site is designed to provide a backup for the gamut of data that will be assembled after the upgrade of the scheme and would require two 1,000KVA generators to ensure that the system works round the clock. On completion of the proposed project, key public institutions such as the Nigerian Police, Corporate Affairs Commission, National Pension Commission, Office of the National Security Adviser, National Health Insurance Scheme, Federal Road Safety Commission and Federal Inland Revenue Service would be able to authenticate the identity of Nigerians at the touch of a button, as they will have unfettered access to the National Identity Card database from their different locations. Chairman, House Committee on Interior, Honourable Jerry Manwe, and his colleagues had demanded explanations on various proposals in the 2009 budget of the Commission, especially with regards to the huge funds allocated to purchase of fuel and diesel for generators, insurance policy for the multimillion naira equipment acquired by the Commission, as well as the choice of Galaxy Backbone Plc in the project of providing access to the database. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]