The National ID Card: History And Problems
Adey Oyenuga
Weekly Trust (Kaduna)
October 13, 2000
Wale Omipidan
Kaduna
Nigeria as an independent nation is just 19 years
older than the national ID card project. The idea was
first conceived in 1967 under the then Head of
State, General Yakubu Gowon with a view to
identifying "the Igbos" who refused to heed the call
to return to the East during the civil war. But the idea
was not too popular and so nothing was heard of it
until around 1976 when it was revived. It was
subsequently launched on September 1st, 1979 by
the then Obasanjo military administration.
The project was launched with an initial cost of about
15 million naira.
However, only General Olusegun Obasanjo and a
handful of people were given the card before the
scheme got stuck.
Like every other white elephant project, a substantial
part of the tax payers' money had gone into the
national ID card project without any headway. For
instance, N10 billion has so far been sunk into it,
and a mouthwatering sum of N17 billion naira has
been set aside for the project in this year's annual
budget. Out of this amount, the Minister of State for
Internal Affairs, Dr. Mohammed Shata, revealed that
about N6 billion had so far been released. But
whether or not the project will see the light of the day
in the life of this present administration is left for the
public to guess.
The project has always been controversial, right
from the time it was projected in the federal budget
of 1976. However, with the establishment of the
Directorate of National Civil Registration (DNCR) in
1978, backed by decree 51 of 1979, the project
formally kicked off with the creation of a department
of civil registration in the internal affairs ministry. The
department was expected to register people and
issue simple laminated identity cards to Nigerians of
age 18 years and above. All this was to be done
manually and the cost was then put at 16 million
dollars (about 10 million at the exchange rate then).
But the dream of the National ID card was not
realized before the man at the helms of affairs,
General Obasanjo (rtd), handed over to the first
democratically elected president of Nigeria, Alhaji
Shehu Shagari.
At its inception, the Shagari-led government
released N50 million naira with a view to making the
identity card project a reality. But from then till date,
the project has continued to be awarded and
re-awarded by successive governments that come
into power, with little or no progress recorded.
For instance, after the revocation of the contract by
the Shagari regime, it re-advertised it in 1981, but
was still re-awarded to Avant Incorporation of USA
in 1982 which, in conjunction with a Nigerian
contractor, had initially handled the same project but
failed to record any meaningful progress. It was
awarded at the sum of N56 million.
Two years after the re-award however, the project
remained a still-born.
And by that time, because of some other variables
like delay in payments and fluctuations in currency
rates, the contract sum had raised from the initial
N56 million naira to N90 million naira, with neither
computers supplied nor the buildings to house them
being constructed until the military struck in
December 31st, 1983.
While the Buhari/Idiagbon regime which ruled the
country between 1983 and 1985 did not show any
interest in the project, the General Babangida
regime which took over from the Buhari/Idiagbon's
government decided to revive the project in late
1986, nearly a year after he (Babangida) took over
the mantle of leadership. His government then
thought it was unwise to cancel the project after
about N90 million naira had been spent on the
project by the previous regimes, coupled with the
fact that the computers needed for the project had
been acquired but were only lying in a warehouse
waiting to be shipped in from France for installation.
Even though the new contractor, Afro-Continental,
was given nine months in 1986 by the Babangida
administration within which to complete the project,
the nine months passed like nine days without the
contractor being able to meet the target.
But three years after, the then minister for internal
affairs, Major-General John Shagaya (rtd), in a
speech at the inauguration ceremony of the National
Computer Centre, Abuja gave reasons why the
initial nine months target could not be met.
According to him, it was due to the "inability to
secure required foreign credit for the project. . .in the
wake of SFEM (Second Tier Foreign Exchange
Market) and FEM (Foreign Exchange Market) and
its concomitant effect on the exchange rate, the
funds allocated could not procure up to one quarter
of the capital goods and services envisaged."
Although the Chief Ernest Shonekan-led Interim
National Government too re- awarded the contract in
1993, he had not settled down to decide on the next
line of action when he was ousted in a palace coup
by the late General Sani Abacha. But like
Buhari/Idiagbon's regime, the Internal Affairs
Minister during Abacha's regime, Ambassador
Babagana Kingibe, announced that the project was
to be phased out.
One interesting thing about this ID card project is
that, apart from one or two regimes, no regime
came in to power without revisiting the scheme.
After a prolonged foot-dragging on the project by
successive administrations, the government of
General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd) revived the
project and completed the National Identity Card
Centre, Abuja two days to the disengagement of the
military from politics.
Only recently, the Minister of State for Internal
Affairs, Dr. Muhammadu Shata, said that the
registration for the issuance of the identity card
would commence by December this year. He also
stated that the card would be used for both the 2001
local government election and the 2003 federal
elections, adding that "only Nigerians from age 17
will be eligible to collect."
But Nigerians have received the idea of using the ID
card for future elections with mixed reactions. While
people like Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos State
believes that reliable database is necessary "If we
must grow as a nation," the Arewa Consultative
Forum is of the opinion that the ID card "would put
the North at great disadvantage as it would
disenfranchise plenty of voters in their domain."
In a direct response to the Arewa Consultative
forum's view on the ID card, Senator Abraham
Adesanya, leader of Afenifere, said "the Yoruba will
not participate in any further election in this country
until the unduly and unwarranted delayed national
Identity card scheme is put in place and eligible
Nigerians had their identity card issued to them." He
further argued that those opposed to the use of the
card for future election were doing so so as to
enable them continue to rig elections.
The strong arguments of the protagonists and the
antagonists of the national Identity card project,
however, stand on their own merits. While
protagonists view it from the political point of view,
the antagonists seem to be concerned about the
billions of tax payers' money that have been sunk
into the project. Even as the present administration
seems determined to complete the project, only time
will tell whether or not the project would not go the
way of other previous administrations.
Copyright © 2000 Weekly Trust.
Ochie
The national identity card should be a most and needs to happen before the
next election.
Charles
Charles Ochie, Sr. Ph.D.
Graduate Program Coordinator
Albany State University
Department of Criminal Justice, Albany, GA
Office: (912) 430-7968
FAX: (912) 430-1676
coc...@asurams.edu
> into power, with little or no progress recorded..
otasco otanda
Card thing? Does the ID Card contain finger prints of
the bearer? Does Nigeria have a finger-print and
photo image banks of all Nigerians? Etc. I would
like to know all the details of this ID Card stuff.
Unless there are authentic links to permanent
corruption-free national registry with the bearer of
the ID Card, such as finger prints and vision/image
system banks, the much touted ID Card cure-it all
might be another colossal failure.
-K.O.
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Samson S.Arawole Jr.
through hospital births and how many Nigerians were born in the
hospital?
Anyway most of those things I do not think are presently available. I
know that since the advent of the forensic section at alagbon years
back, the country has been planning to update their database. how
accurate is the database is another question. But that said, If Nigeria
is very serious about the national ID cards, there are numerous ways of
updating that database. Database updating is always a continuous
exercise.
And by the way, I haste to add that the benefit of the ID card will not
be election alone. Development will be a key figure or "how does a
father in tend to cater for his children if he does not even know how
many they are"...... Something to ponder upon.
Sammy