Pantami: With NIN, identity of any Nigerian on the internet will be known

Isa Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, says the national identification number (NIN) will become the foundation of Nigeria’s security. 

Pantami spoke during the Nigeria International Partnership Forum in Paris, intended to attract investors and strengthen ties between Nigeria and France in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the federal government intends to establish the country’s security foundation on NIN to ensure that the identity of citizens and legal residents who log into the internet is known. 

“Some of these initiatives that happen to be the foundation of even our economy is the introduction of the national identification number. Nigeria has joined the global community by making the use of national identification numbers for both citizens and legal residents mandatory,” he said. 

“This is going to be the foundation of our economy and also the foundation of our security that whoever happens to go online, his identity will be known by the federal government and also by our security institution. 

“As in our constitution 1999 as amended section 14(2)(b), that the primary responsibility of government is security and safety of its citizens, it is because of this that President Muhammadu Buhari is very passionate about that and he has been pushing that we establish the foundation of our economy and the foundation of our security on the national identification number so that identity of our citizens and legal residents will be known, 

“As it is today, the enrollment has been over 67 million and most importantly we are able to capture the most important category of people that come out to do businesses.” 

He added that NIN has now become a prerequisite to enjoying government services and so potential investors should have “peace of mind” doing business in Nigeria. 

He assured investors of the government’s efforts in making Nigeria more secure, saying the country will soon deploy robotics to improve on its cybersecurity. 

“So it becomes a prerequisite to enjoying government services and I believe this will bring more peace of mind to potential investors to know that the government has been doing something significant in that regard,” he said. 

“Recently the country has also launched and commissioned a national center for artificial intelligence and robotics that focuses more on research and coming up with innovative solutions in the area of security and now the center in collaboration with security institutions is in the process of developing robots and many more that are going to be deployed to make our country safe and sound.”