The initiative, according to the chairman of the NPC, Chief Festus Odimegwu, is one of the measures to address the security challenges in the country.
The NPC boss, stated this on Wednesday in Abuja when he visited the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, Prof. Babatunde Osotemehin.
Odimegwu said biometric identification card would help to reduce the incidence of kidnapping, armed robbery and Boko Haram insurgency in the country.
He said, “The initiative has massive implications for planning and security issues in Nigeria. The President charged us to be innovative in our population policy. And we have come with something we think is very unique, to base our population policy on the premise that we want to improve the quality of our population.
“We want to provide a consolidated centralised national demographic data bank in the National Population Commission. To do that, we will meet the President’s charge to prepare very well to carry out a demographic biometric census in 2016.
“We are going to do for the first time in Nigeria a comprehensive biometric census. To record all Nigerians, their biometrics, and then give them one number that will follow them from birth to death.
“This biometric census will be a huge exercise that would need the support of all the partners and well wishers of Nigeria to be conducted.
“We called it Population Quality Improvement Based Population policy. We have identified 16 issues that the National Population Commission, will collaborate with all the stakeholders involved.
Earlier, Osotinmehin charged the commission to focus on the development of young Nigerians, who he described as the majority in the nation’s 170 million people.
The UNFPA boss stressed the needs for the country to use its population effectively in order to actualise its economic growth.
Source: www.punchng.com