National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has concluded its two day 2nd International Vendors’ Summit aimed at ensuring that citizens who have enrolled for their National Identification Number (NIN) get their National e-ID Cards on time, as well as draw up a road map for the cards personalization phase ‘2’ outlook.
The summit held at the NIMC Headquarters Abuja from the 28th – 29th of January, 2015 and had in attendance top executives of all NIMC Vendors’, partners and stakeholders; both local and international.
A major consideration of the summit was for the commission to interface with the vendors and further examine the inputs of each vendor in the NIMS project.
Abdulhamid Umar, general manager, Corporate Communications at NIMC, in a press statement, said that the interactive session was also a means to discuss strategies to ensure the swift distribution of the National e-ID Cards, as well as to fast-track the process for post issuance update for citizens who have already received their Cards.
Also, a review of the applets in the phase ‘1’card issuance, its successes, challenges and the way forward, was also part of the agenda, even as NIMC prepares for the activation of eight other applets on the National e-ID Card.
“The key consideration for the second International Vendors’ Summit is to ensure that Nigerians are issued their cards on time. It is imperative to bring all stakeholders who are involved in the National Identity e-ID Card project together to brainstorm on steps to make all the applets on the card user friendly.” Mr. Chuks Onyepunuka, acting general manager, Information Technology/Identity Database (IT/IDD), said while making his report.
Other payment processors including Verve, Visa, Genesis, were also invited to discuss when and how NIMC can begin to issue cards based on these payment processors in order on give each payment processor a fair playing ground.
The summit was also centered on the recent upgrade of the NIMS, to accommodate the enrolment of minors (from day one to age 16) and to ensure that the number of enrolments in a day can be tripled.
“With over 400 enrolment Centres nationwide, we are able to enroll over 100,000 people daily, but NIMC is looking to triple that number very soon with the recent upgrade of its system.” The Acting General Manager, Enterprise Security and Network Infrastructure, Mr. Emmanuel Ogungbe said.
The update of the NIMC backend, expansion of the NIMS test environment and extension of infrastructure to include a complete business continuity components, and issues hindering on customer relations were also discussed.
In phase ‘2’ of the National e-ID Card project, NIMC is looking at post card issuance activations, increased issuance of the e-ID Card, an increase in the number of payment processors and the introduction of handheld card activation terminals for verification and authentication.
The Vendors present at the summit include CryptoVision, MasterCard, Verve, Chams, SecureID Limited, Electronic Payplus Limited, Unified Payment Limited, AuspointLitited, eTranzact, MEA Services Limited. XL Africa Limited.