The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has announced that Nigerians will need to pay for the new multipurpose national identity card, citing limited government revenue as the primary reason for the decision.
Speaking during a two-day roundtable for journalists in Lagos, Dr. Peter Iwegbu, Head of Card Management Services at NIMC, said, “The payment is to ensure that the card is produced for only those who need it.”
He explained that this approach aims to avoid repeating past mistakes where physical cards were issued for free, but many were left uncollected.
“In the previous attempt to issue free National ID cards, over two million cards were produced, and many of them have not been collected till date,” he noted.
Dr. Iwegbu further stated, “The government’s limited revenue is also a major factor in the decision to make Nigerians pay for the new ID card.”
Adding to this, the Director of Information Technology at NIMC, Mr. Lanre Yusuf, said, “The idea of a free national ID card did not turn out well in the past.” He described the new ID card as a post-paid identity card, emphasizing that individuals must need the card before initiating a request for it.
