84pc of eligible Mwanza residents get national IDs

MWANZA: MWANZA Region has so far registered and issued national identification cards to 84.3 per cent of the eligible, the National Identification Authority (NIDA) announced recently.

Speaking during the launch of an ID card issuance exercise for Mwanza region, NIDA Mwanza Regional Senior Registration Officer Mr Daud Abdallah, said that latest information they have is that the number of those registered stands at 716,245.

“This is equivalent to 84.3 per cent of the target of registering 1,786,876 people,” said Mr Abdallah at an event that was graced by the Mwanza Regional Administrative Secretary (RAS) Mr Elkana Balandya.

Mr Abdallah has called on the public to take advantage of the opportunity as the main criteria for registration is reaching the age of 18 years old.

“For the Mwanza region the authority has a target of registering 1,786,876 citizens but until now the authority has succeeded registering and identifying citizens and foreign residents together and their number has reached 1,506,536 which is equal to 84.3 per cent of the target,” he said.

He said that among them about 1,311,801 identification numbers (NIN) have been generated and 786,805 identification numbers have already been distributed to local government offices in the region.

In addition, he mentioned several challenges facing the authority in the exercise, including the low response of citizens in taking IDs, a situation which leads to accumulation of IDs in local and government offices.

“Education through the media has continued to be provided by the authorities through the radios and other media channels to sensitise the public on the importance of registration and identification at local government offices,” he emphasised.

Mwanza Regional Administrative Secretary Mr Elikana Balandya asked the citizens to show up at the centres to register and thereafter go and collect their cards. He said that there are still many identification cards in the Local Government Offices.