Director-General, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Aliu Aziz, has disclosed that the commission had deployed NIMC Verification Service (NVS) to banks and other sectors including schools and hospitals.
Speaking yesterday in Abuja, Aziz said that the financial institutions in the country have successfully implemented and adopted the platform. He said that the Application Programme Interface (API) for the NVS was deployed to institutions for effective use in accessing the data of Nigerians.
“It starts by mentioning the application and issuance of passport and opening of a bank account, land transaction, insurance, pensions, paying taxes, contributory health insurance, voters registration, any other government services.
“So we have already put a regulation in 2015 which we are updating for 2017 to come out with a final project.
“And also we have provided the verification service in different modes. Some of the banks are already using this service because they are private-sector oriented.
“But it is available for all the sectors like schools, hospitals and we want the private sector to really drive this project. Government cannot be everywhere,” he said.
The DG stressed that it is important to harmonise insurance companies’ databases with the National Identity Database (NIDB), adding that a vulnerability check had been done to the card to make it secure and that five applets had been activated on it.
“We have 13 applets on the card presently but we have only five that are activated. These five are to do with the electronic identity.
“Then we have also what is called match on card. That is when you present the card it is supposed that you have done some work on it.
“So you are required to put it into equipment and then check that your fingerprints that are inside are your own fingerprints.
“Then we also have the account travel applet that is part of it. We have the payment applets that you can use it as a virtual account and driven by a bank.
“And finally, we have something that is called public key infrastructure. That public key infrastructure gives you digital certificates.
“And these digital certificates are the ones that will allow you to digitally sign a document and then also digitally encrypt a document because you know now we are in digital economy. Therefore you need something to participate fully.”he said.
