FG moves NIMC to Ministry of Interior over passport delay

The federal government has moved the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to the Ministry of Interior as part of efforts to resolve issues around passport processing in the country.

On assumption of office, the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, promised to work towards having the NIMC in the ministry for proper coordination of identity data of Nigerians.

This process is now being accelerated in line with President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s directive to remove all impediments and bottlenecks from obtaining passports.

The National Identity Number (NIN), domiciled in NIMC, is one of the major conditions for obtaining of International Passports.

The NIMC was until now supervised by the Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy.

A source who would not want to be mentioned because he is not authorised to speak on the matter told our correspondent that a meeting was held on Wednesday at the ministry with staff of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

He said the meeting was to harmonise the activities of the two government organisations.

“The process is ongoing and should be finalised by Friday because there is another meeting scheduled for Friday,” the source at the ministry said.

Under the previous administration, the NIMC in conjunction with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) collaborated for the linkage of NIN with the Subscribers Identity Modules SIM, to fight incidences of kidnapping banditry, and terrorism. Over 100 million Nigerians linked their NIN with SIM within three years.