Registry reaches millionth person registering for NID

THE office of the PNG Civil and Identity Registry (PNGCIR) yesterday announced the millionth person who registered and offered her a gift and a plaque to mark the magical figure.
Lucy Paipmari Felihau, 18, became the millionth registrant on May 23.
She is a student at a university in the Philippines.
Deputy registrar-general Salome Bogosia said yesterday marked an important day in the history of NID registrations.
She said the government had mandated her office to carry out the important function of registering people for identification and statistics.
“It has been challenging to come this far to reach over a million registrations,” Bogosia said.
“We’ve learnt a lot since the project was initiated in 2015 and we are proud to say that as of May 23, we have achieved that.”
Felihau registered twice in the PNGCIR system, before and after she turned 18.
The printer at the registry broke down sometime back and no cards were printed for about seven months.
Bogosia said the initial process of birth registration was to register births and after turning 18, they registered their national identity (NID) which captured the biometrics.
“Due to the backlog of registrations, both NID and births were being registered as single,” she said.
“We hope that by the end of the year we can make another announcement.
“We hope to complete registering by 2021.
“NID is here to stay so people of PNG, if you are not registered, please come forward and register yourselves and your families.”
Felihau was surprised she became the millionth person to register.
“I really needed my NID card because it was a requirement for my registration at school and I thank PNGCIR staff and management for helping me,” she said.
Felihau is studying for a Bachelor of Science in nursing.