Abubakar Baba Ahmad.
The Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment AGILE AF Project has appealed to the National Identity Management Commission NIMC to deploy adequate registration facilities in public schools to ensure speedy and seamless National Identity Number NIN enrolment for pupils/students.
The Bauchi State AGILE Coordinator Hajiya Ladi Hamma made the appeal when she led the Project Implementing Unit on a courtesy visit to the NIMC State Coordinator in his office.
Hajiya Ladi Hamma said NIN has become mandatory for all segments of the society, hence the need to ensure speedy coverage of the pupils/students population for them to benefit from the project’s support package.
“We have a component financial incentive popularly known as Conditional Cash Transfer and in that component we need to enroll primary 6 pupils transiting to JSS 1 and JSS 3 students transiting to SS 1 for which we are going to give them a little scholarship and so to do that they need to yave NIN numbers which had been giving us a great concern and problem in opening accounts for this students that is why we are here to solicit for your assistance when these students come for registration they get their slip or NIN on time”, the State AGILE Coordinator appeals.
She said the project which has a target to enroll over twenty thousand JSS 1 and SS 1 girls in public schools, has so far captured over eighteen thousand with only about twelve thousand successfully securing NIN.
Responding, the State Coordinator NIMC Malam Ibrahim Lawal Gwarzo said the state with nine active registration centres to include Alkaleri, Bauchi, Darazo, Dass, Jama’are, Katagum, Misau, Ningi, Zaki and the State Office, is ranked among top ten states in terms of registration coverage with over 3 million so far captured.
Ibrahim Gwarzo further disclosed that three Special Centres have also been established at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital ATBUTH Bauchi, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University ATBU Yelwa Campus, and Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic ATAP with Dass LGA centre now stationed at the Specialist Hospital due to lack of office accommodation.
While reiterating the commission’s determination to deploy its personnel to schools for the coverage of pupils/students population, the NIMC State Coordinator promised to partner organisations willing to provide the needed support and logistics to ensure every Nigeria has a National Identity Number.
“We have been receiving letters of recent from Local Education Authorities on how we are going to synergise together to see that is has gone smoothly but the whole of Bauchi state I think we are having only 8 LGAs that are active and we’ve written a Memo to His Excellency, we’re still for approval for him to chip in on how we are going to get more computer systems that would cover Bauchi State, and we’re still soliciting from AGILE and their likes because this is a very important exercise”, Coordinator Gwarzo highlights.
Gwarzo promised to strengthen collaboration with the AGILE project towards expanding its outreach to schools for seamless capture of the large pupils/students population.
