Govt pushing for NID cards to be used across all sectors

GOVERNMENT wants all sectors to use National Identity (NID) cards soon, says Internal Security Minister Peter Tsiamalili Jr.
“Very soon all of our government institutions, including the private sector, will conform to the NID system,” he said.
Tsiamalili said the NID card would be the basis for development as they tried to make systems easier.
The Bougainville Regional MP said this would be in his Internal Security White Paper which he would be presenting soon.
He said that they were already enforcing it as a standard in this year’s police recruitment exercise.
Tsiamalili said this after concerns were raised by Maprik MP Gabriel Kapris regarding the NID cards being one of the requirements in the recruitment.
Kapris said it was difficult to procure NID cards, especially in centres outside of the nation’s capital.
“NID offices are not operational in some provinces,” he said.
“Some of these applicants are grade 12 graduates or university graduates who could not secure a job; some of them have their certificates and other requirements but were not accepted because they did not have an NID.”
He asked why this was, further questioning if this was done according to a law passed by Parliament.
Tsiamalili said that all applicants were given ample time to procure NID cards.
“It’s not a law but a standard that the police are enforcing; it’s not mandatory as yet,” he said.
“It’s a standard we have applied to make sure there are good men and women (recruited) in the force into the future.”