Ahead of the proposed national identification registration, the Federal Government is seeking a law to stop the stealing and mismanagement of the identities of Nigerian citizens.
Speaking at a stakeholders workshop on the Draft Bill for Personal Information and Data Protection, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, said identity theft had become one of the fastest growing crimes in the society.
Adoke, who was represented at the workshop by Director, Solicitors Department, Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Olusola Moore, said the new bill provides for regulation governing the secrecy of personal information and data protection.
He said the growing incidence of identity theft could be attributed to huge margins for little efforts and risks on the part of criminals and inadequate provision for punishment to deter identity thieves.
According to him, the high incidence of identity theft could also be attributed to the inability of organisations to deploy appropriate security measures.
He said, “Before, people did not consider the value of their customers’ personal information and this was why we thought that the only victims of identity theft were individuals whose personal information had been obtained illegally.
“Evidence has however shown that organisations too with a lot of personal information have fallen prey to data criminals. In recent times, customers of financial institutions have been tricked into having their personal data exposed to Internet scams.
“This legislation shall have provisions for remedy in the event that the organisation breaches the law on protection of personal information.”
Director-General, National Identity Card Management Commission, Mr. Chris Onyemenam, listed the components of the proposed identity legislation to include identity database infrastructure and generation of the national identification number, verification system, harmonisation and integration of both the public and private sectors in the process.
He said the national identity number was done in such a manner that no one number could be allocated to two individuals even at the death of a person.