Displaying items by tag: NIMC

The Economist and Chief Executive Officer of CFG Advisory, Tilewa Adebajo stated that the issue of Census before an election year is very volatile.

Mr. Adebajo said this in an interview on CityTalks with Reuben Abati on City105.1 on Saturday.

The subject of Population Census has been a discourse since the last population and housing census in Nigeria took place in 2006.

When there was a clamour by some groups for Census to be conducted in 2018, the Speak of the 8^th National Assembly, Hon Yakubu Dogara, stated categorically that Census close to an election year, would make some politicians hijack the process that would determine the outcome of the results, rather than the actual figures.

In a recent development, Mr. Adebajo argues that the Population Census process in Nigeria has been politized and a lot of people has lost confidence in the system.

According to him, “If you try to do a census now, everybody is going to scream bloody murder, because they will feel that you are going to use the census result to try to influence the elections next year.”

He said, “the National Population Commission will tell you that they are ready to conduct a census, but there is no political will to go ahead to conduct the census because some people feel that it might not favour them.

With references from the amount of mobile telephone penetration, voter register, and National Identity Management system, mentioned by Mr. Adebanjo to give an overview of Nigeria population estimate; he said, “the amount of mobile telephone penetration could give an idea of what the population in Nigeria looks like.

“The National Identity Management System, again a lot of people do not have confidence in that system.

“The voter register; but over the last 15 years you will see a situation whereby the vote register has shifted from the large population from the Southwest to the North, which is currently the largest within the last 10 years.

“People are concerned about how this has been manipulated and if you don’t know your population, you can’t plan all the social infrastructure that a teaming population requires, you need to know the numbers so that you understand your demography, so that you can plan properly.

When fielded with questions concerning the launch by the President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, 3^rd February, 2022, on the Revised National Policy on Population for Sustainable Development, stressing the need for urgent measures to address Nigeria’s high fertility rate, through expanding access to modern contraceptive methods across the country and  the National Council on Population Management inaugurated by President Buhari, chaired by Mr. President, and the Vice President as the deputy chairman with Heads of relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies as members.

Mr. Adebajo replied: “The Nigeria population has become a liability.

“They have recognized those issues, they have brought it up, so it’s now a situation where we talk about policy flip-flops, and consistency in government.

“It is important that we do not only set up these policies, but it’s important that we are consistent with the policies. If we need to enact a legislation to back those policies let’s do but we can borrow some from the Chinese model and the Indian model.

“It’s not only important that we plan, but it is also important that we move ourselves from western conspiracies on Population control,” he said.

Mr. Adebajo further speaking, said that “The first step to put in place population control, we need to put in place a credible census for Nigeria.

“The strategy for one part of the country is different from another part of the country.

“You cannot manage what you cannot measure.”

Feedback during the interview via WhatsApp by Abdul Kayode from Ajangbadi in Lagos, he said, “a country without database of its citizens, should not bother to consider population control measures.

“For God’s sake, we don’t have a record of the numbers of people going and coming into the country through our land borders. How do you preach to a Hausa man who has four wives, not to produce kids?

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to adopt electronic taxation (e-Tax) to help minimise revenue leakages, limit tax evasion, and significantly improve fiscal position of state governments amid the current economic challenges.

FIRS Chairman, Muhammad Nami, made the disclosure on Thursday in Kaduna at the 147th meeting of the Joint Tax Board (JTB) tagged Strategic Initiative for Sustainable Revenue Generation: Prospects, Challenges, and Next Steps.

He said it was important for federal and state revenue generating agencies to adopt new technologies to deliver on their core mandate.

Nami noted that a lot of people were making monies privately without remitting appropriate taxes, stressing that introducing new technologies into tax administration would help to curb the challenges faced in the country.

He disclosed that the agency was working with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to achieve this, to ensure all eligible taxable persons in the country were compelled to declare and pay their taxes honestly and promptly.

 

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, has blamed the lethargic approach of Nigerians for the huge crowds that besiege the National Identification Number centres across Nigeria.

Pantami says section 18 of the 2017 NIMC Act, which was approved 13 years ago, directs each citizen to obtain NIN, wondering why a great number of Nigerians have failed to comply.

Following an earlier announcement that citizens who fail to link their (Subscribers Identity Module) SIMs to their NIN will have their SIMs blocked, many Nigerians have stormed NIN centres to obtain their NIN in order to beat the February 9 deadline by the government for the linking of NINs to telephone SIMs.

Speaking on Channels TV’s Politics Today, he said the increased number of Nigerians who gather at NIMC registration centres underscores lethargy on the part of citizens as the policy was first announced in February 2020.

“The earlier deadline was quoted by many national dailies without making reference to the initial one. You can Google the date.

It was announced 4th February, 2020; that was the first time the policy was announced and it was transmitted to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC). However, at that time, NIMC was not under our supervision.

“So, it was announced that every citizen who owns a SIM Card and the National Identification Number (NIN) should submit the same to the mobile operators for integration.

The number of SIM cards then was put at maximum three lines which have been reviewed now to about seven considering that we need data, artificial intelligence, etc. “But the challenge was the debate on why three SIMS; why not four.

The argument was back and forth. The truth is that it was announced that this should be done. So, the citizens had February 2020 till December 2020 to obtain NIN and submit to their mobile network operator for integration.

“The Government’s role is to announce the policy direction like we did while the parastatals were mandated to keep in touch with the citizens as part of their strategies for implementation and in collaboration with the mobile operators. 

“Therefore, saying that the deadline was two weeks is wrong. The deadline or earlier directive of February was still valid.

So, you must comply. On whether inadequate equipment could make citizens fail to meet the February 2021 deadline, he said, “First, if they lack equipment, they are expected to officially notify the government. NIMC’s staff union have never reached out or written to the Ministry (even once) that they require certain facilities to discharge their functions.

It has also never come to my attention that NIMC wrote a letter requesting for equipment.”