Date: 2018-08-17

The National Identity Management Commission in Kwara State, has released a total of 29,117 national identity cards for registered Nigerians in the state.

Mr Habeeb Olumo, Kwara State Coordinator of NIMC, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in his office in Ilorin, on Thursday.

He said that the commission started registration in 2012 and had registered 499,643 people as of July 31.

"We started receiving smart cards in 2014, for those who registered when we began in 2012, we are registering people on a daily basis.

"Among the 29, 117 identity cards that were released, 16,233 had collected, while others are still in our custody, waiting for collection," he said.

The coordinator urged Nigerians to register for their identity cards, saying that there were lots of advantages to it, he said the smart card could also be used for bank transactions.

"Many of those that have been coming to register are elites, and there is a need for everybody to have an identity card, to be able to identify themselves anywhere they go.

"We have our offices across the Local Government Areas in the state, except in Isin and Ekiti Local Government Areas, and it is because we have not been given a place for our office to work.

"We have left Ifelodun and Moro Local Government Areas because when we started people refused to come out and register, unlike other local government areas, where people in the community turned out well.

"We have up to eight enrollment centres in Ilorin and we have been registering in all the centres but the problem we have is insufficient funds," he said.

The coordinator called on the private and public sector for assistance.

(NAN)