Federal government has revealed that plans are underway to harmonise the National Identity Number (NIN) with the Bank Verification Number (BVN) for a comprehensive data base of its citizenry and immigrants.
Minister of communications and digital economy Dr Isa Ali Pantami made this known during a working visit to some mobile network operators yesterday in Abuja.
He said the ministry is already in talks with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to harmonise NIN, which is a primary identification number for Nigerians and all other residents in the country, and the BVN, which is a secondary identification.
He restated the ministry wants to ensure all citizens and legal migrants are with BVN will immediately be provided with the NIN, adding the CBN will facilitate the process.
“I made a presentation to National Economic Sustainability Committee and I drew the attention of CBN governor to the fact that we need to replace BVN with NIN because the BVN is a bank policy while NIN is a law because it has been established by law so the strength of the law wherever you go is not the same with a policy of one institution,” he said.
“Also, BVN is only applicable to those who have bank account but NIN is for every citizen and legal residents in the country. BVN is our secondary database while NIN and the database is the primary one in the country that each and every institution should make reference to NIMC.
“On the board of NIMC CBN governor is a member, DG DSS is a member, chairman of FIRS is a member, INEC chairman, Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), National Population Commission and the Nigeria Immigration Service are all members of the board and this is to show you that it is primary database that every institution in the country should make reference to, when it comes to data protection regulations, we are in the forefront in Africa today,” he said.
The operators visited were the NIMC, MTN, Glo, Airtel and Office Machines Nigeria Ltd.
