By: John Bassey, Kebbi.

The Nigeria for Women Project Scale-Up, NFWP-SU in partnership with National Identity Management Commission launched a massive National Identification Number (NIN) enrollment drive targeting over 100,000 women from 6000 Women Affinity Groups (WAGs) across 5 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Kebbi State.

This was disclosed in a statement issued by Comrade Aminu Adamu, Public Relations Officer for NEWP-SU Kebbi state chapter to Journalists in Birnin Kebbi.

According to the statement, the 5 LGAs include Birnin Kebbi, Dandi, Yauri, Bunza and Zuru.

The exercise will aid in facilitating financial inclusion for women, to be championed by the Nigeria for women program scale up project in Kebbi state.

During the flag off ceremony in Gwangwaji ward of Birnin Kebbi LGA, the State Project Coordinator, Alhaji Yakubu Muhammed Yauri, disclosed that, the initiative was necessary considering the report from the project data base indicating over 70% of the registered project beneficiaries lack NIN as one of the required Know You Clients (KYC) for formal banking.

He further commended the Kebbi State Governor, Dr Nasir Idris for providing an enabling ground for the project to operate and women in Kebbi state to benefit from the project interventions.

Also speaking, the head of operation, Mustapha Rabi’u Koko said the NIN registration exercise is a process whereby Ward Facilitators mobilizes all Women Affinity Group members registered as project beneficiaries without NIN, to present themselves for the NIN enrollment being conducted ward by ward, until all the project beneficiaries are enrolled.

Koko also emphasizes that, financial inclusion for the women is a process and NIN registration is the first step hence the collaboration with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and the Nigeria Digital Identification for Development(ID4D) project to ensure that all WAGs members secured NIN.
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Abubakar Balarabe Alhaji, the NIMC State Coordinator, emphasized that the commission is committed to establishing a comprehensive national database, noting that NIN is now the primary gateway for all federal social safety net programs.

He said the collaboration provides the opportunity to enroll the WAG members assured of a hitch free and seamless enrolment process in Kebbi state.

Some beneficiaries expressed relief at the initiative ‘‘Maimuna Muhammed, Murjanatu Aliyu, Aisha Usman, Hajiya Sutura and Aisha Aliyu all WAG members, noted that many women had previously spent personal funds attempting to register without success.

They commended the Nigeria for Women project Scale up under the leadership of the Kebbi state governor, Dr. Nasir Idris for “bringing the registration to their doorsteps.”

The enrollment is currently ongoing and is viewed as a critical step toward the institutionalization of Women Affinity Groups and the economic empowerment of women in the state.