Ojukwu Centre advocates for compulsory learning of Igbo language

ITRealms:

The Ikemba Ojukwu Centre has advanced plans to advocate compulsory learning of Igbo language at its forthcoming conference next month in Owerri, Imo State, reports ITRealms.

The Centre, ITRealms gathered has on top of its agenda, the strategy for a private member bill to be sent to Houses of Assembly in the South Eastern part of the country aimed at making the teaching of Igbo language compulsory in all schools in Igboland.

ITRealms also gathered, the Houses of Assembly are to conduct their sessions in Igbo language at least thrice a week.

The Ikemba Ojukwu Centre, Owerri, further lamented that Igbos who were on the commanding heights of the military, politics, academia and commerce before Nigeria’s independence were now at the lowest rung in the nation’s socio-political and economic development.

The Director-General of the centre, Dr. Samfo Nwankwo, at another confab in Umuahia, Abia State, Thursday pointed out that Igbo people are suffering cultural identity crisis, as the Igbo language was on the verge of extinction.

Nwankwo decried that after a painful analysis of what has been the lot of the Igbo recently, the centre, decided to convoke an emergency conference, which involved all prominent Igbos and groups, to know where the problem arose and why.

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NIN mandatory from September 1

ITRealms:

The National Identity Number (NIN) designed for the identification of Nigerians  in all transactions that require identification of individuals in the country shall become compulsory by September 1, reports ITRealms.

In keeping with this arrangement, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), in-charge of NIN issuance, has urged Nigerians to avail themselves the opportunity of enrolling in the national identity database to get their NIN on or the deadline.

NIMC General Manager, Corporate Communications, Abdulhamid Umar, said recently that the agency has advertised in some national dailies that the use of NIN shall become mandatory in all transactions offered by applicable government institutions from September1.

Transactions affected, pursuant to section 27 (1) and (2) of the NIMC Act, 2007, ITRealms learnt, include application for, and issuance of international passport, opening of individual and/or group bank accounts.

Also affected, according to reports, are all consumer credits, purchase of insurance policies, purchase, transfer and registration of land by any individual, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), such transactions that have social security implications, registration of voters, payment of taxes and pensions, among others.

“Consequently, any government agency/institution, bank, insurance company and all other institutions offering services and/or involved in transactions requiring the identity of an individual must first demand for the NIN,” NIMC General Manager, Inspectorate, Regulatory and Compliance Services, Mrs. Hadiza Dagabana said.

“Any individual, institutions/body who fails to comply with the above has committed an offence punishable under section 28 of the NIMC Act.”

The commission urged citizens to appreciate the full import of the NIMC mandate and understand that the three-decades-old problem of identity management in Nigeria has been fixed since 2012 by NIMC’s unique identification infrastructure and the subsequent launch of the National e-ID Card scheme in 2014, ITRealms reports.

Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE

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