July 27, (THEWILL) – The Bayelsa State Government has indicated its preparedness to work closely with the state office of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to open more data capture and registration centres in the state.
The Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, gave the indication on Thursday while granting audience to the State Director of the NIMC, Mr. Stephen Inokoba, and other staff of the Commission in Government House, Yenagoa.
The Deputy Governor, who applauded the high sense of patriotism and responsibility displayed by the State Director and his team, said the government would partner with the NIMC at the state level to create more NIN registration centres in all the local governments and rural development authorities (RDA) headquarters.
According to him, creating such centres will ensure wide coverage and eventual success of the registration exercise in all parts of the state, including far-flung rural communities of Bayelsa.
He described as unfair and unacceptable the closure of several NIN registration centres across the state, making Bayelsa the only state with less than one million people registered so far on the NIMC database.
Senator Ewhrudjakpo debunked the notion that Bayelsa was the smallest state in the country, noting that the landmass and natural endowments of the state had strategically positioned it as a big state in the federation.
His words: “We salute and appreciate your good sense of patriotism and responsibility towards your people, the people of Bayelsa, so that they are not left out. Thank you for the commitment you have shown.
“Bayelsa deserves a better deal. We are ready to collaborate with you to open more NIN registration centres in all the 32 RDA headquarters, including the eight local government headquarters, and in some populous communities in the rural areas.
“Jointly, we will do this together. By next week, I will meet with the local government chairmen and their RDA counterparts. We are going to spare no effort to ensure that we change the erroneous impression that Bayelsa is a small state.”
In his remarks, the State Director of the NIMC, Mr. Stephen Inokoba, revealed that the total number of persons registered in Bayelsa was less than a million mainly due to ignorance and apathy on the part of the people.
According to Inokoba, several NIN registration centres had been closed down in the state with the registration equipment redeployed to other states before his posting to Bayelsa.
He, therefore, appealed to the Bayelsa State Government to come to their aid to enable them to work effectively even as he called on the people to take the registration exercise seriously.
Amos Okioma is a Correspondent at THEWILL
