The Jigawa Coordinator of the National Identity Management Commission, Aminu Jakada, has expressed concern over the low enrolment for the National Identification Number in the state.

Mr Jakada said in an interview with journalists in Dutse on Saturday that only about 2.6 million people in the state have so far obtained the National Identification Number.

Jigawa, which is the eighth most populous state in Nigeria, has a population of over 7,499,100 people as of 2022.

The coordinator said that the enrollment figure was too low and urged citizens and legal residents to obtain their NIN.

“The problem we have is that people don’t coming out to register. It is only when we have an issue like now that people are registering for the UTME that you see crowd in the centres.

“But immediately after the UTME registration, everybody will stay at home until something requires them to obtain NIN, that is when they will come again,” he added.

The NIMC coordinator appealed to traditional rulers in the state to assist the commission in sensitising their subjects to give priority to obtaining their identity number.

According to him, an aggressive campaign on enrollment will speed up registration of more citizens and legal residents in the state.

Mr Jakada particularly appealed to Dutse, Gumel, Ringim and Hadejia Emirate Councils to emulate the Kazaure emirate by establishing special NIN enrolment centres in their respective domains.

He explained that the Kazaure emirate’s establishment of special NIN registration centres led to the enrollment of 75 per cent of people in the area, hence the need for the other four emirates to emulate the initiative.

The coordinator added that before the establishment of the centres by the Emir of Kazaure, Najib Hussaini-Adamu, the area was lagging behind in terms of NIN enrollment.

According to him, the emirate is now leading with 75 per cent, followed by Hadejia emirate with 65 per cent of registered residents.

He added that the record of enrolment in Dutse emirate was 50 per cent, while Gumel emirate had 30 per cent and Ringim emirate, 20 per cent.

“Traditional institutions can assist us through sensitisation so that people will be more aware of the exercise and that will speed it up.

“We call on other individuals in the state who can afford to assist by establishing special centres in their respective communities to do so in order to register more people,” Mr Jakada said.

(NAN)