By Emmanuel Elebeke

The new Ambassador/Head of Delegation of European Union, EU to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, Ambassador Michel Arrion, has said that the ongoing enrolment for the National Identity Number, NIN will drive foreign Direct Investment into Nigeria.

Arrion made the submission when he paid a Courtsey visit to the NIMC Headquarters in Abuja. He said the Identity Management Commission, NIMC’s mandate to create a unified identification system in Nigeria will also help to bring real and recognisable benefits to Nigeria and other countries across the globe.

According to him, Identity plays a key role in the growth and development of any economy and the NIMC’s quest to create a paradigm shift from the Identity Card issuance to the National Identity Management System, NIMS is a great potential for the country.

“I see potentials for the NIMS project; the NIMC objectives and mandate, when fully implemented will boost the nation’s economy and help drive foreign investment.”
“The EU also has links with the INEC, the EFCC, and other Ministries, Departments and Agencies, and will together with the NIMC, create a database of all Nigerians who do business with members of the European Union,” he added.

Ambassador Michel Arrion however, cautioned the Commission to be careful with human rights issues and protect data captured from citizens and legal Residents of the country with every sense of authority and discipline. The Director General of the Commission, Barrister Chris  Onyemenam, in his welcome address to the Ambassador, maintained that the Commission since its new mandate of creating a National Identity Management System, NIMS in 2007, has made conscious efforts to establish relationships with International Institutions in order to tap into the vast experiences and resources of these Institutions.

Barrister Chris Onyemenam started that creating such relationships is important for NIMC, because “the mandate to create a NIMS and harmonize the captured data into a National Database is more or less a green field for the Commission, which was centered on Card Issuance in its previous efforts.”
He urged the Commission to leverage on the experiences in Europe and America, as well as draw support from the International Institutions to scale up the NIMS enrolment exercise, and the Verification and Harmonization process.