Do you know that seven Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province, ISWAP commanders were arrested recently.
The arrest and what facilitated it are what the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, spoke about when President Bola Tinubu, yesterday, signed the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, Act 2026 into law.
According to him the feat was made possible by the integration of NIMC’s identity database with the Nigeria Immigration Service and international law enforcement platform
The seven Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province, ISWAP, commanders were arrested last week at Katsina Airport while returning from the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
And lauding the act, he said it would strengthen Nigeria’s identity management system, enhance national security, improve public service delivery and accelerate the country’s digital transformation.
Tunji-Ojo described the new law as a major milestone in the Federal Government’s ongoing reforms of Nigeria’s identity management architecture.
Tunji-Ojo also stated that the integration of the NIMC database with other government identity platforms had already yielded security gains, including the recent arrest of suspected terrorists.
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“We inherited a fractured system. But I’m happy to tell you that even last week, seven known commanders of Boko Haram and ISWAP, at the point of returning from Mecca, were arrested at Katsina Airport and handed over to the Department of State Services, DSS.
“This was possible because the NIMC database is now connected with the immigration database and also interfaces with Interpol’s systems on a 24-hour basis,” he added.
“When President Tinubu assumed office, we had disconnected identity management systems. Today, you cannot obtain a Nigerian passport without verification through the NIMC database,” he said.
Cami Ezenwa is a Writer, Editor, Publicist, Biographer and Journalism Trainer
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