15 Reasons Why You Must Have National Identification Number & Card

If you have not been taking the issue of enrolling for the National ID Card seriously, it may be that you are yet to fully come to terms with the compelling reasons you have for doing so. I’m sure by the time you are through with reading this post, you will rush to the nearest Enrolment Centre or Mobile Enrolment Station if you have not done so.

Consider the following benefits of having a National Identification Number (NIN) and the National ID Card for you as individual and for the nation as a whole: 


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  1.    For the government, it  provides a convenient and simplified process for enrolment onto the National Identity Database and this will be the basis for issuing the National Identification Number (NIN) and the National Identity Card which is a smart card for you
2.    Having a National ID card and NIN protects you from identity theft and fraud because the number provides a simple, reliable, and universally acceptable means of identifying you and confirming your identity at all times
3.    It gives you an advantage in politics if you are politician because it will eventually contribute to the political from by  process by facilitating the work of electoral officers
4.    The NIN will be used for all transactions in Nigeria that require your identity verification. And since ID card is a smart card, you can use it to withdraw money from an ATM. This is so because your NIN can be tagged to your identity anywhere you need to produce it

5.    You will need it for travel documentation (like international passport & visa application and acquisition)

6.    Your NIN is useful for the opening of personal bank accounts, being a smart card
7.    It can also be used to process and obtain your driver’s license
8.    NIN can be attached to your obtaining your Permanent Voters’ Card
9.    With NIN, it becomes easier to benefit from National Health Insurance Scheme
10.    It simplifies your payment of your taxes and collection and retrieval of Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)
11.    It assists in tracking the transactions that have some bearing on your contributory pension scheme
12.    Your NIN gives you access to welfare programmes and other relevant services from the Nigerian Government.

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13.    If you are able to link all your transactions to your NIN, you are poised to benefit from any present or future social security programmes
14.    Your land acquisition is made easier and your ownership concretized by your NIN in the view of the Land Use Act
15.    If in the future the NIMC prescribes any other transactions and lists them in the Federal Government Gazette, your NIN will be mandatory for such transactions
Since the system has been simplified now, you have no just cause to sit down and be looking. It is so easy and convenient as such that, when your ID card is ready, you will be contacted by an SMS on your phone or through your email address.

You can then work straight to your Enrolment Centre or the Activation Centre and obtain your National ID card upon providing the proof of ownership of the card.And if after some time you have not been contacted, you log on to the site of the NIMC, www.nimc.gov.ng and use the number on your slip, which is your NIN, to track the progress of your ID card. That is why you must keep your slip.
When the programme reaches its peak of operation you will need not only the card but also the number that identifies you as a bona fide Nigerian to be reckoned as such. So what are you still waiting for?