Buhari registers for National ID Card, says NIC will compliment Voters' card in future

President Muhammadu Buhari says national identity card will compliment the permanent voter’s card in future elections in the country, shortly after he was registered by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday August 25.

''I think this exercise is very important to confirm our population and those who are entitled to vote, that is those who are 18 years and above,''Buhari said. ''It will complement the permanent voters’ card. So for those who want their votes to count from whichever party or constituency, they should ensure that they and their families are properly captured.''

The Director General of the NIMC, Mr Chris Onyemenam, also said that the exercise was not a one-off thing and that there was no time limit.

''It is a continuous exercise,''Onyemenam said. ''So every enrollment centre that we have established remain open forever, they are like banks’ branches. We are taking deliberate steps to ensure that enrollment centres are opened in each local government. In collaboration with MDAs, we are now extending it to universities. It will also be extended to primary schools and hospitals. With the cooperation we expect from INEC, we are meeting INEC today, it will be extended even further. Because of the records of births and deaths that are the primary responsibility of the Nigerian Population Commission, it will even become wider because there are more centres for the registration of births and deaths. Once a centre is established, it remains there and people can go there and enroll at their convenient time. They will do the pre-enrollment first before going to any centre for the biometric data capture.''