Nigeria deploys 10 vehicles for identity registration of displaced people
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Business Day Nigeria
The Nigerian federal government has deployed 10 mobile service vehicles in 10 states, with support from Germany and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to register identities and provide social protection. Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction Bernard Doro says the lack of identity papers excludes many Nigerians from public programmes, according to Business Day.
The Nigerian federal government has deployed ten mobile service vehicles in ten states to bring civil identity registration and social protection closer to internally displaced people and other vulnerable Nigerians. Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction Bernard Doro announced this on Wednesday at the official handover of the vehicles at UN House in Abuja.
These mobile offices are to enable the registration of births, the allocation of National Identification Numbers (NIN), the registration of SIM cards, the obtaining of Bank Verification Numbers (BVN), the opening of bank accounts and enrolment in the national social register. The minister stresses that administrative identity determines access to public programmes, and that people without recognised papers are often excluded from them. Funding comes from the German government, in partnership with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The minister expressed the hope that the programme would extend to all 36 states of the country and the Federal Capital Territory. He asked the beneficiary states to maintain the vehicles and send them regularly to isolated areas where many vulnerable people live.
