The National Identification and registration authority (NIRA) has embarked on resuming the Infants National ID registration exercise. Infants as young as Day 1 can now get a National ID number which is granted to them at the age of 16. Sweeping in new features and human identification mechanisms. NIRA currently registers children from the age of 0-15.
Uganda launched the national ID registration exercise way back in 2014 for persons aged 16 years and above. Although many people opposed the whole idea of having a national ID card linking it to political beliefs. To date, owning a SIMcard in Uganda or even registering for any pro service requires you to have a national ID number.
In a bid to ease the process of acquiring a NIN. NIRA has a pilot scheme scheduled in over 17 districts where everyone can replace their lost National ID and also present infants for registration. Even though, NINs are required everywhere from banks, hospitals to airports. Children shall as well be issued with temporary documents to prove the existence of an alternative NIN, as the director for operations NIRA stated.
There is no policy today that all children should present IDs, for example in hospitals to get services. We shall create NINs for the children and on that basis, we shall produce NINs for them when they clock 16 after updating their records. Brig Stephen Kwingira said.
Reviving the 2017 children’s registration exercise dubbed the learner’s project. NIRA’s new infant registration policy will see all Ugandans uniquely identified and authenticated with the body. Furthermore, Children below 4years can only register at the moment as NIRA comes up with optical scans which scan the Iris for unique identification as a replacement for the fingerprint scans.
