FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari
There are indications that the federal government would soon announce a deadline for linking bank accounts to the National Identity Numbers, NIN.
The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, made this known while speaking after the Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.
Meanwhile, Pantami said FEC had approved about N8.9 billion for a new National ICT Park in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to coordinate public and private ICT hubs in the country.
According to him, the ICT Park motive is to be a centre where the Federal Government would coordinate public and private ICT hubs to mentor young innovators.
Pantami added that the Park would serve as a centre of job creation for teeming Nigerian youths to reduce unemployment and reduce the gap of unemployability.
Earlier, Pamtami had revealed that the NIN would replace the Bank Verification Number (BVN).
He disclosed that the Federal Government had informed the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, about replacing BVN with NIN.
He added that the BVN is a bank policy while NIN is a law, noting that the BVN is only applicable to those with bank accounts, but NIN is for every citizen and legal residents Nigeria.
Pantami described the BVN as Nigeria’s secondary database while NIN and the database is the primary one in the country.