FIC Report (Edo State) – The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has launched the Edo State Residency Identity Card, with a target to issue one million cards to citizens before the fourth quarter of 2024.
The governor launched the Residency Card on Friday, at the 2022 edition of Alaghodaro Summit.
The summit which has its theme as “Edo’s Transformation: Partnerships, Resilience, Impact,” is taking place in Benin City, the state capital, between Friday, November 11 and Sunday, November 13, 2022.
The summit, in its sixth edition, is organized yearly, in partnership with the private sector, to mark the anniversary of Governor Godwin Obaseki in office and showcase the progress being recorded in transforming the state into an investment haven.
In his speech, Mr. Obaseki noted, “Today, we are launching the Edo State Residency Card. We estimate that we have about five million people who live and reside in our state but we don’t know them.”
According to the Governor, the identity card, which has been designed in partnership with some of the government’s financial partners
will come in different forms.
“Some will come with electronic purses to enable people to use them for financial transactions while some will be for students.”he explained.
Mr. Obaseki further said, “The policy is that you may not be able to interact with government services in Edo State without the residency card. No child will be accepted in our schools if we don’t know their parents; they all have to be registered as citizens.
“This Residency Card is linked to the National Identity Care under the NIMC scheme. We are using the same algorithm as NIMC to issue this card.’
The Governor urged all citizens of Edo State to go out and register themselves to be issued with the cards.
“You may not have need for the card physically, but you must have your identity number to enable us to know you.” he added.
Explaining further, the Governor said, “In all your interactions with us, the identity number will be stated. If we don’t know you, you can’t interact with the government. You can’t get land in Edo or health insurance or register your building plans if we don’t know you and where you live in our State .”
The Head of Service, Anthony Okungbowa Esq., who presented the first identity card to the governor, said the identity card project is one of the numerous developmental and innovative projects embarked upon by the state government.
He stressed that the residency identity card will help the government to plan effectively for the development, growth and progress of the state.
By Besiru Enakhimion.
FIC, Benin City.
