Tobias Sylvester
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is reportedly planning to make the National Identification Number (NIN) compulsory for the voter’s card registration in the country.
Speaking with Punch on Tuesday, a national commissioner at INEC disclosed that the commission is considering making the NIN a precondition for registering voters when the exercise commences in a few weeks.
The national commissioner, who wished to remain anonymous, said although a final decision would soon be reached, the NIN would help tackle challenges of underage voting, alien voting and other challenges associated with registration.
“The NIN is the ideal. When we want to begin the continuous voter registration, we may consider it because ordinarily, a national identity card is what should be used for voting.
“When the PVC was introduced, it was meant to be in use for 10 years and the assumption was that within those 10 years, the national identity card would be in use by a majority of Nigerians.
“I can tell you that the NIN will be one of the preconditions for registration when the CVR starts. We are trying to harmonise all databases,” he said.
When contacted, the Director, Voter Education and Publicity, INEC, Nick Dazang, said he’s not sure whether the NIN would be a precondition for registration, adding that meetings were still ongoing and the final decision would be communicated to Nigerians.
“When we reach the bridge, we will cross it. For now, we have not announced the date for the registration exercise to begin and the conditionality. When we are ready, the commission will announce the procedure for the continuous voter registration so the commission has not taken a decision in respect of that,” Dazang said.
KanyiDaily recalls that the Federal Government had asked all telecommunication companies to disconnect the SIM cards of all persons who have not integrated their NIN with their phone numbers by January 19, 2021.
