GOVERNMENT POLICY ON HARMONIZATION

Circular
Ref. No. 59803/VII/87
Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, The Presidency,
Shehu Shagari Complex, Abuja. 28th May, 2014

Chief of Staff to the President,

Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Office of the Vice-President,

Honourable Ministers/Ministers of State, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Special Advisers/Senior Special Assistants, Service Chiefs/Inspector-General of Police, Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission,

Chairman, Code of Conduct Bureau, Chairman, Code of Conduct Tribunal, Chairman, Federal Character Commission, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission,

Chairman, National Population Commission,

Chairman, Revenue Mobilization, Allocation

and Fiscal Commission,

Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria,

Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission,

Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Chairman, National Assembly Service Commission, Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Extra-Ministerial Departments,

Clerk of the National Assembly, Chief Registrar,

Supreme Court of Nigeria,

Secretary, National Judicial Council,

Auditor-General for the Federation,

Accountant General of the Federation, Directors-General/Chief Executives of Parastatals, Agencies and Government-Owned Companies.

GUIDELINES ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE ON THE ALIGNMENT OF DATA CAPTURE, IDENTITY VERIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION ACTIVITIES IN GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES, DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

Following the establishment of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) by the Federal Government in 2007 as the primary institutional framework for managing and reforming the National Identity Sector in Nigeria, it Is necessary to reiterate that the Commission has the statutory responsibility to create, manage, maintain and operate the national Identity database, including harmonization and integration of existing Identification databases In Government Agencies and integrating them into the National Identity Database.

2.    Accordingly, the commission has the responsibility to:

(i) carry out the registration of citizens of Nigeria into the National Identity Database;

(ii) carry out registration of resident in Nigeria; and non- citizens of Nigeria who are lawfully resident in Nigeria and

(iii) issue a general Multi-purpose identity card to any person so registered, etc.

3. In this regard, the NIMC has deployed the National Identity Management System (NI MS) for the attainment of its mandate and is working assiduously to comply with. Mr. president's directive of registering all eligible persons into the National Identity Database by 31st December, 2014. Also, by the same date, all Government Agencies requiring identity verification and authentication services or are involved in data capture activities must align their activities with a view to switching over to the NI MC infrastructure.

4. All necessary arrangement to achieve the set date of 31 st December, 2014 has been put in place by the constitution of a Harmonization and Integration Implementation Committee in NIMC with membership drawn from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Communication Technology.

5. For the avoidance of doubt and in line with Mr. President's directive, all Ministries, Departments and Agencies are required to note as follows:

(i) that NIMC shall have the primary responsibility to manage the Committee and deliver the processes and procedures for achieving a seamless integration of its NIMS infrastructure with existing infrastructures of other Agencies within the time-frame set by Government. This shall include without exception, all data capture related activities, development of Database, Identity authentication and verification, card issuance activities and related infrastructure;

(ii) that henceforth, all identity database-related projects and procurements, especially as it relates to Data capture, Development of Databases, Identity Authentication and Verification and related identity management infrastructure/issues, shall be validated against the Harmonization and Integration Programme in view of the set deadline of December 31, 20 14 to ensure seamless and timely compliance with the directive within this transition period;

(iii) that the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, through the Governing Board of the NIMC, shall ensure periodic evaluation of Progress Report and convene Review Meetings as appropriate; and

(iv) that Government will monitor closely the implementation of this harmonization and integration programme so that at the appropriate time, Government will publish the commencement date for the mandatory use of the National Identification Number (NIN) in line with Section 27 of the NIMC Act No. 23 of 2007 .

6. Please bring the content of this circular to the attention of all concerned for strict compliance.

Anyim Pius Anyim, GCON
Secretary to the Government of the Federation