Monday June 19 in Pointe-Noire, economic capital, and Tuesday June 20, 2023 in Brazzaville, political capital, Jean-Baptiste Ondaye, Minister of Economy and Finance, successively inaugurated two new enrollment and production centers NIU (Unique Identification Number) biometric cards. In the presence of the municipal authorities of the two cities.

In the economic capital, the keys of the new Center were handed over to the Congolese government, represented by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Jean-Baptiste Ondaye, by the German company MULBAUER, specialized in the provision of secure, reliable and flexible delivery of the NIU. On this occasion, Minister Ondaye had his NIU established in the space of 5 minutes. While in the Congolese political capital, it was his colleague, Léon Juste Ibombo, Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and the Digital Economy who obtained his new NIU, replacing the old one, in the same period of time 

The characteristics of the new Centers

According to the NIU Project Coordinator, Roger Aymar Andely, Information Systems Advisor to the Minister of Economy and Finance, "these new spaces called 'Enrollment Centers', built to relieve congestion on existing NIU sites, are each equipped with around thirty machines for an enrollment capacity of 1,000 people per day; around a hundred seats, with automated queue management, to facilitate waiting and the passage of applicants; a VIP area, for the registration of officials; machines dedicated to online pre-registration, an essential prerequisite for collecting biometrics and taking the photo; a meeting room; two offices, for NIU executives; a technical room; a production cell capable of supplying 2,000 cards per day; an online registration form (FIMLI), which records an average daily frequency of 3,000 visitors per day and which made it possible to go from a record registration time of 45 minutes yesterday to 5 minutes maximum today today, per person.

Operations and formalities for which presentation of the NIU is mandatory

For his part, Minister Jean-Baptiste Ondaye recalled the operations and formalities for which the presentation of the NIU is obligatory. Order No. 25550/MEF/MBCPPP of October 12, 2022 determines the economic transactions and administrative formalities whose completion is necessarily subject to the use of the NIU.

“For transactions, this involves issuing an invoice for the delivery of goods or services; the signing of any type of contract for the provision of services; the signing of any act of financial commitment in the form of a contract, order form or letter, agreement or public procurement; signing any type of insurance contract; opening a bank account with credit and microfinance establishments; transfer of funds abroad; taking out a subscription for the supply of water and electricity; taking out a subscription with a telecommunications operator, an internet service provider or a television operator.

For administrative formalities, this involves subscribing to declarations and paying taxes; the subscription of declarations and the payment of duties and taxes at the customs cordon; the collection of funds in the Public Treasury; the establishment of a certificate of nationality or a criminal record; and registration with social security funds,” listed Jean-Baptiste Ondaye.

The Minister of Economy and Finance explained that the NIU is compulsory. Because it is “not only about ensuring the permanent and unique digital identification of each taxpayer, with a view to limiting cases of duplication and effectively curbing cases of fraud, but also about putting set up a common technical platform, capable of populating economic databases, in order to generate different economic indicators.”

Jean-Baptiste Ondaye announced, in perspective, that other NIU biometric card enrollment and production centers will be installed in all localities in Congo.

History will record that the two inauguration ceremonies of the Centers, on June 19 and 20, 2023, saw the participation, in Pointe-Noire, of Paul Adam Dibouilou, Prefect of the Kouilou Department (representing Alexandre Honoré Paka, his Prefect counterpart of the Department of Pointe-Noire); Jean Toussaint Loemba, Mayor of district 1-Eméry Patrice Lumumba. While in Brazzaville, the presence of three other members of the Government was noted, namely: Ingrid Olga Ghislaine Ebouka-Babackas, Minister of Planning, Statistics and Regional Integration; Jacqueline Lydia Mikolo, Minister of Small, Medium Enterprises and Crafts; Edith Delphine Emmanuel née Adouki, Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technological Innovation; and Léon Juste Ibombo, Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and the Digital Economy.

Remember that the NIU is a compulsory registration issued by the NIU Project (whether a natural or legal person). It was created in 2004 to identify taxpayers. In 2020, Order No. 5327 of March 12, 2020, set the terms and conditions for granting and using the new unique identification number.

The Communication Unit of the Ministry of Economy and Finance

Photo credits : B2B Communication