Immediate past Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, Aliyu A. Aziz has been appointed to the exalted status of Ambassador Emeritus of ID4Africa Movement.
In a letter dated December 29, 2023 and personally signed by the Executive Chairman of ID4Africa Movement, Dr. Joseph J. Atick, the appointment follows his “outstanding service, unwavering commitment, and invaluable contributions to the Ambassadors Bureau in your country throughout your tenure,” being January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2023.
The ID4Africa with its headquarters in New York, USA is a Pan-African undertaking devoted to supporting African
countries build strategic capacity required for evolving robust identity ecosystems for
development
Aziz who is an engineer took up his position as Ambassador Emeritus for life, with effective from January 1, 2024, in recognition of “your tireless efforts in promoting the development of responsible digital identity systems for the benefit of
people in your country and the wider African continent”.
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In his response, Aziz says “I am deeply honoured and humbled to be recognised as an ID4Africa Ambassador Emeritus for life. It has been a privilege to serve as the Nigerian Ambassador and contribute to the important work of building identity awareness throughout Africa”.
It will be recalled that when Aziz served as NIMC Director-General, he spear-headed Nigeria to become the first country in the world to formally recognise and adopt September 16 every year as National ID Day to commemorate identity as a national asset. Today, ID4Africa Movement, founded in 2014 is working to see that the United Nations also adopts September 16 as World ID Day in line with Sustainable Development Goals, SDG 16.9, which targets the provision of legal identity for all including free birth registrations by 2030.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
