President tells Nida to speed up issuance of national IDs
Dar es Salaam. President John Magufuli has instructed the National Identifications Authority (Nida) to speed up the issuance of national IDs to Tanzanians.
The President's order comes after the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) through telecommunication companies announced that all mobile phone subscribers ought to verify and register their SIM Cards biometrically by December, 2019.
The National ID is the sole document which is required in the biometric registration of SIM card which kicks off on May 1.
"Those who have the IDs should get registered as scheduled," says President Magufuli at public rally in Mbeya on Friday, April 26, 2019.
According to the President Nida has so far issued about 14 million IDs in country with a population of over 55 million people.
This he said would lock out many subscribers who do not have the national Identity cards.
According to the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) website by December 2018 there were some 43,621, 499 SIM cards in circulation.
This week Parliament was told that the identification authority was in the process of acquiring new equipment which will have the capacity of printing 9,000 IDs per hour compared to the current 750.
