The board and management of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), has been formally presented with the new salary scale and improved Conditions of Service (CoS) as approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
The presentation, which was made by Professor Isa Pantami, minister of Communications and Digital Economy, on Thursday, marked the end of a 10-year battle to turn the fortunes of the Commission around.
In his address, Pantami thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for the support enjoyed by the sector and remarked that the previous unsuccessful attempts, though strong-willed, had resulted in disenchantment amongst the Commission’s workforce and loss of competent and highly skilled personnel to other organizations within and outside the country.
He said the new Condition of Service and salary scale increases with over 200% the total NIMC personnel cost, which according to the Minister, is a significant departure from what is currently obtainable.
He, therefore, urged the board and management of the Commission to ensure the funds are judiciously used for the purposes intended, while tasking members of staff to justify the gesture of the federal government.
Earlier in his remarks at the ceremony, Acting Chairman of NIMC Governing Board, Bello Gwandu, disclosed that there had been unsuccessful attempts since 2010 to attain a better welfare for the NIMC workforce due to numerous factors that were hindering the development.
He said “since 2010 we have been galvanizing efforts to ensure a positive change in the fortunes of NIMC’s workforce, but each time we take one successful step forward, there appears to be multiple gridlocks impeding our pace. All of these changed for the better upon the assumption of Professor Pantami as the supervisory Minister of NIMC. Evidence abounds of his persistent push and resilient resolve to accelerate us to this remarkable phase. We couldn’t have asked for a better Minister”
Engr Aliyu Abdullaziz, Director General of NIMC, while expressing the profound gratitude of the Commission in particular and the sector in general, noted that “Pantami has achieved in less than a year, what previous administrations tried unsuccessfully to achieve in over a decade”.
President transferred the supervision of the Commission to the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, under Professor Pantami’s purview in October 2020.
