TheCable

It is now mandatory for people living in Kaduna to have residency cards in order to access services offered by the state’s ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

The directive will take effect from May 1, 2021.

Zayyad Tsiga, the executive secretary, Kaduna state residents registration agency (KADSRRA), disclosed this at a media briefing on Thursday.

Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna, flagged off the state residency card programme in June 2018, stating at the time that the decision was to help the the government plan for its social programmes.

Speaking on the new directive, Tsiga said the mandatory use of the residency card is in line with the state’s e-governance drive, as well as the need to eliminate the use of multiple identity cards for different purposes.

“This new policy is being implemented with a view to further improve service delivery at all MDAs, the state’s digital economy and e-governance initiatives, social and financial inclusion, and much more, to the benefits of our dearest residents,’’ Tsiga said.

“The state, through its Residents Registration Agency (KADSRRA), plans to begin the distribution of the state residents card in the first quarter of this year.

“The card seeks to eliminate the need for multiple ID cards across various use cases in the state. Some key examples of such cards include hospital, university, and employee ID cards.

“Only residents who have NIN, with a valid Kaduna state residential address, will be issued a state residency card. This is to ensure that the data of our residents is only collected once.”

The director added that model primary health care centres will be used for the exercise, in addition to the 73 facilities currently used for enrolment across the state.

According to him, the state is “working closely” with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) on the project.

“Kaduna state has the second highest number of enrolments into the National Identity Database (NIDB) with 3,130,857 enrolments, against the projected population of 9,476,055 million people, giving us a coverage of about 33 percent as at 15th February, 2021,” he added.

The KADSRRA boss also advised residents, who needed to do so, to update their address information on the NIN platform “in order to get a state residency card”.