Former president Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday collected his electronic
National Identity Card from the National Identity Management Commission
(NIMC), after spending over 10 minutes to activate the card as well as
its inbuilt applications.
Obasanjo, who in his characteristic manner
of throwing banters, noted that not many people know that he has three
identity cards.
The former president listed his international
passport, the National Identity Card and his Owu tribal marks (six lines
incisions on each side of his cheeks) as his means of identification.
Obasanjo,
who spoke at his mansion on the Presidential Hill Top Estate, Abeokuta,
Ogun State, when the management and officials of the NIMC brought the
card to him, also asked how much of the functions inherent in the e-card
would be beneficial to the people in his Ibogun village and at what
cost to them.
He said,”
Not many people know that I have three
identity cards. The first is the international passport, the second is
National Identity card and the third is my tribal marks. It is not funny
that I’m collecting the National Identity card at a time that I’m
unemployed and unemployable.
“What we have now is what we wanted to
do in 1979 but not as complex as this one and also not as sophisticated
as this. Although we are getting the card late, but we are getting the
best that technology can offer.
“I have my worries and I always
express my feelings. I have got special treatment but how will it be for
someone in my village to be captured?
“How much of this
functionality in the card will be useful to him and how much will be
paid knowing that poverty is still ravaging the rural dwellers. These
are issues you will have to address.”
He said the e-national
identity card would not only help the country in tackling its security
challenges, but would also assist in “intelligence gathering.”
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