Manus opens NID office

Islands

MANUS is now the 15th province in the country to have a National Identity (NID) project office.
The Manus NID office was commissioned on Friday by the Registrar-General Dickson Kiragi in a small ceremony in Lorengau with Manus Governor Charlie Benjamin being the first client to register.
Also officiating the commissioning were Governor Charlie Benjamin, PNG NID project manager Dr Esther Lavu and the government officials.
The office was commissioned by the PNG NID registrar-general and the key of the office was presented to the Manus governor who then handed it over to the administrator Andrew Posong.
Kiragi said the Manus NID office was set to start operating right after its commissioning.
He said with a population of about 60,000 people in Manus, the NID team hoped to complete registering the eligible population within two years.
“I am sure we can complete the NID registration in Manus within two years,” Kiragi said.
“We are also in discussions with Unicef to do the birth registration for children from birth to 17 years.”
He said the legal requirement was that children between zero to 17 years of age were not issued with NID cards but only birth registration certificates.
He said the NID office in Manus would also roll out mobile registration to the remote atolls once the office went into full operation.
The commissioning of the PNG NID Manus office was followed by the commissioning of the acting administrator Oka Nungu as the registrar and Ruth Waiwai, Jim Toro, Andrew Tausim and Leslie Simon as the registration officers for the Manus NID office.
Posong said the NID registration started this week starting,
“Public servants and their families will be the first lot to get registered.”