Gov’t announces plan to create 543 ID card identification units nationwide.

This was revealed in a recent correspondence addressed to mayors and city mayors by the Minister of Decentralisation and Local Development, MINDEVEL, George Elanga Obam.

In the correspondence, the minister instructed municipal authorities to create office spaces in their respective council buildings to facilitate the exercise. The identification points, if operational, are expected to ease the procedure for securing ID cards by average Cameroonians. 

The obtaining of ID Cards has been an uphill task for citizens who often decry the labourous and corruption involved to obtain the important document.

News of government’s move to decentralise the process has excited Cameroonians, especially municipal authorities across the board, who say identification services will be brought closer to users.

According to the mayor of Belo Council, in Boyo Division of the North West Region, Dr Vincent Ngong, the initiative is highly welcomed as it will give room for excellent services to those in the remotest parts of the country. 

“This is a welcome initiative. Councils will be able to serve the denizens better. Some of our mothers and fathers will be able to be served in their local dialects,” Dr Ngong said.

For his part, the mayor of Kombo Abedimo Council, Ndian Division of the South West Region, Patrick Aboko Anki, recounts the ordeal his population in Bakassi peninsula go through to obtain the important identification document.

“To obtain an ID Card, one has to go from Kombo Abedimo through the High Seas to Idenau or in Limbe to get most documents,” he said.

According to him, the creation of identification posts in municipalities is a laudable initiative, which will reduce their transportation cost and risks involved. 

“It will modernise and reduce the cost of traveling and the risks involved in it,” the mayor added. 

He further explained that: “The identification posts are not only meant for the issuance of the National Identity Cards, but it will equally facilitate the obtaining of resident permits for those who are not Cameroonians”.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Bamenda II Council, Peter Chenwi, has reiterated that government’s decision to open new identification points would bring services closer to the population.

“It will go a long way to help people in our municipality to be able to vote, go to schools and register for examinations and be able to have jobs because of ID Cards,” Chenwi said.