The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Pantami, has appealed to security institutions to use the database for the National Identification Number and the Subscriber Identity Module in tackling insecurity in Nigeria.

The Minister made this appeal during the Fourth National Identity Day celebration in Abuja on Friday.

He lamented the poor utilisation of the database by security forces in the country.

Pantami said, “We are pleading with our security institutions to make use of this database. It is not our work to do the security work. Our own work is to support them. The database is available for NIN and SIM. But from the information available at my disposal, the utilisation has been highly insignificant.”

Also speaking at the event was the Director General of the National Identity Management Commission, Aliyu Aziz, who stressed the need for an efficient identification system.

He said, “Identification is a tool for empowerment and greater use of digital ID can help bring the much-needed governance and coordination in development and service delivery.”

Aziz further noted that NIMC was partnering with the traditional rulers and traditional institutions all over the nation to raise awareness on the need for NIN registration and usage.

He also said that NIMC had over 15,000 enrolment centres and over 29,000 enrolment devices deployed nationwide.

Aziz added that on the international level, NIMC had diaspora enrolment centres in over 40 countries, with more centres and countries scheduled to be added in the coming months.

In an earlier Punch report, it was stated that the Commission had captured 89 million persons in the ongoing nationwide NIN enrolment.