TheCable

The federal government has unveiled a new condition of service and salary scale for staff of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

Presenting the new service conditions to the commission at the International Conference Centre in Abuja on Thursday, Isa Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, said the new annual salary scale has increased from N5 billion to N16.7 billion.

‘‘One of the major challenges I came across in the supervision of the NIMC was the poor working condition of the staff. Since the inception of NIMC in 2007, multiple attempts have been made to change the narrative of the staff emoluments without success. The process towards achieving a functional condition of service for the Commission has been a long and daunting task that commenced since 2010,” Pantami said.

”Following the completion of the transfer of the supervision of NIMC to the ministry of communications and digital economy in October 2020, it became my responsibility to oversee and supervise the affairs of the commission. My first task was to undertake due diligence and a review process of the NIMC’s human capital needs and technical audit to ascertain their progress as well as challenges.

‘‘I compared the NIMC personnel policy with what we have in other parastatals under the communications and digital economy ministry and found out NIMC has the poorest staff remuneration scheme with a highly sensitive mandate to deliver. Thus, the staff remuneration existing then was not commensurate to the work delivery expected from the commission.

“As it is today, your annual salary scale is N5billion to be paid to over N4,000 staff of NIMC. But with this approval, the salary has been catapulted to reach 16.7billion. That is an increase of 11.7bn.” This he said is excluding the allowances that come with the new conditions of services.”

The minister also expressed gratitude to the federal executive council for approving a N25 billion infrastructure upgrade fund for NIMC. When deployed, he said the commission will be transformed from its obsolete state to a global champion.

He asked the governing board and management of NIMC to ensure that the funds are used judiciously as they are released in phases.

“The NIMC plays a critical role that impacts the lives of every Nigerian, and for persons legally resident in the country. In light of the foregoing, it is imperative that the vibrant NIMC staff who are tasked with managing one of the nation’s most sensitive and critical assets are provided with the enabling environment to play this pivotal role efficiently and effectively,” he said.

‘‘Council approval for upgrade and replacement of the NIMC Identity Infrastructure, and the implementation of novel initiatives that have increased the registration of persons to over 62 million on the NIDB. The governing board and management of NIMC must ensure the judicious utilization of the approved funds as it is released in phases.”