POLITICS
Identity: Lagos Unveils Upgraded Smart, Multi-Purpose Card
The Lagos State Government on Wednesday unveiled an upgraded smart and multi-purpose resident identification card for comprehensive database of residents.
Unveiling the smart card in Lagos, Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said that the upgrade was borne out of the need to embrace change and align with global best practices.
The upgrade held simultaneously at four other locations -Lagos Island, Badagry, Ikorodu and Epe.
Sanwo-Olu said that the initial Lagos State Residents Card was an ordinary plastic card meant only for identification purposes.
He said that the new ”smart”, ”multi-purpose” card combined biometric identification with other functionalities and benefits that cut across areas such as security, financial services, mobility and access to government services and amenities.
According to him, the upgrade of the ID card demonstrates the administration’s commitment to the Smart City vision, which seeks to integrate and embed cutting-edge technology into daily lives and daily interaction with government and public services.
”As the nation’s commercial nerve centre, Lagos State experiences significant levels of inbound daily migration of people seeking economic opportunities and a better life.
”As a result, our population, currently estimated at over 22 million residents, is rising rapidly, with obvious implications for social services, social infrastructure, and security.
”It has therefore become imperative for the state government to re-examine strategies aimed at improving the security of lives and properties of the people of Lagos state.
”This ‘Smart’ Resident Card will help address the issues surrounding the identification and traceability of Lagos residents, and ultimately help inform government’s planning and provision of services designed to secure lives and property,” he said.
The governor said that the new card would aid financial inclusion, as it came with an electronic ‘wallet’, which could hold funds and be used for daily transactions, supporting the cashless agenda of the monetary authorities.
He further said that the smart card would enable residents have access to government services such as health insurance, pension administration and school allocation based on residential addresses and many more social amenities.
Sanwo-Olu said that residents would also access value-added services such as the ability to pay for Lagos state transportation services and toll gate fees.
The governor said that this would be achieved through integration with the COWRY card and collaboration with LCC.
He urged residents to register and acquire the Lagos State Resident Card to enjoy the many benefits on offer.
On planning, he said that registration by residents would enable government be more thoroughly and effectively plan and budget for delivery of the dividends of democracy, against the backdrop of the ever-growing population.
”Already, 6.5 million residents have been enrolled on the database by Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA), with the state witnessing four-fold increment in registration in the last three years,” he said.
‘With the launch of digitised card format, Sanwo-Olu said the state government was targeting to capture 10 million residents on the database before the end of 2022.
The governor also said that new visitors in Lagos who planned to live in the state for more than two consecutive months were now required to register for the residency card.
The Special Adviser to the governor on Innovation and Technology, Mr Olatunbosun Alake, said that the unveiling of the smart residency card became another foundational layer on which the government’s Smart City project would stand on.
Alake said the registration procedure now came with elastic and expandable biometric interfaces to allow updates of information and the card utilised industry standard security chips that prevented duplicated identities and profiles.
”We have a cloud redundancy system that allows 24 hours operations and a highly rated machine accuracy system. It has back-end cloud workload protection and two-factor authentication to make changes to information originally supplied, such as physical address,” he said.
LASRRA General Manager, Mrs Ibilola Kasunmu, said that the state could not afford to lag behind in the age of global digitalisation, thereby, making the transition to smart residency card compelling.
Kasunmu said that the agency was motivated by the resolve to contribute to the overall vision of the current administration on finding innovative ways to improve on efficiency of governance and service delivery for the benefits of the people.
”We took account of certain limitations inherent in the initiative, developed an ecosystem framework with propositions to include a cost-effective approach to produce the smart ID cards for residents.
”We are glad to announce that we have been able to secure partnership of several private sector players on this laudable project as we needed to ensure the card remained free to the residents of the state. Residents are not expected to pay for the card,” she said.
Endorsing the new digitised ID format, the Managing Director of Sterling Bank, Mr Abubakar Suleiman, said that Lagos remained the cradle of transformation. (NAN)
The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.
The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.
“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.
“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.
“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”
He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.
Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.
He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.
He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.
According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.
Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.
Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).
He was represented by his Chief of Staff. He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)
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