Monrovia – Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor is encouraging Liberians to enroll into the National Biometric Identification System and obtain their citizen identification cards.
Report by Edwin G. Genoway, Jr [email protected]
The Veep stressed the importance of every Liberian be a part of the process, saying, it is helpful to country and people.
She expressed confidence in the process and praised the management for a successful process.
“Thanks for your hard work here, I am pleased with the process and I encourage the public to take advantage of it,” she stressed.
The Vice President carried out her biometric registration when she visited the Registry’s headquarters in Congo town on Tuesday, February 13, 2018.
Meeting her upon arrival, the Executive Director of the Registry, J. Tiah Nagbe, along with his management team, welcomed the Vice President and expressed appreciation for her taking time out from her busy schedule to carry out this important civic duty.
“Madam Vice President, we appreciate you for taking up your time from your busy schedule to get enroll in the process,” the Executive Director of the Registry, J. Tiah Nagbe, noted.
Upon completing her enrollment, the Vice President expressed her willingness to support the work of the registry.
It can be recalled that Madam Jewel Howard-Taylor was one of the main architects behind of crafting and passage of the National Identification Registry Act in 2011, when she served as Chairperson on the Senate’s Committee on Autonomous Agencies.
Following the enrollment of the Vice President, the Executive Director of the Registry shared information on the benefits of the NIR and the progress made thus far.
He informed the Veep that the Registry is key for national security and service delivery; and can save the Government millions of dollars.
He further told the Vice President that for salary payment, pensions and benefits to citizens, using a biometric national identification card can reduce leakages and save thousands of dollars for the government.
Other benefits he listed included helping to curtail multiple voter registrations of a single person and it also helps in the conduct of national population census.
According to him, the savings that government could accrue from using the biometric card process could run up to US$30 million over the next ten years.
The Deputy Executive Director, Mr. Zeze Reed, also briefed Vice President Howard-Taylor on the progress and challenges at the entity.
Reed further informed her that the agency currently only registers at least 150 persons daily because of limited enrollment capacity at the moment.
“At full capacity, we can register 5,000 to 6,000 people daily.”
He stated that one this is done, they will be able to register the entire Liberian population within three years.
According to him, the only impediment to achieving this is finding money to increase the agency’s capacity. He appealed to the Veep to continue advocating for the NIR, especially since she was one of those who really help to give birth to the Registry.