The National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) is a government-owned organization in Uganda, mandated to register births and deaths in the country and to develop a National Identification Register for both citizens and legally resident non-citizens. NIRA is also mandated to issue national identification numbers and cards to every citizen and lawfully admitted alien.
Location
The headquarters of the NIRA are temporarily located at Independence Park, Kololo Airstrip, on Kololo Hill, in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city.The coordinates of Kololo Airstrip are 0°19’37.0″N, 32°35’34.0″E (Latitude:0.326955; Longitude:32.592787).
Overview
NIRA was created by the Ugandan parliament on 26 March 2015 under a law known as the Registration of Persons Act 2015. Before then, registration of personal vital data was gathered under various laws by different government agencies, including the Uganda Registration Services Bureau, the Electoral Commission, the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control, the Uganda Revenue Authority, various local governments, and others. To harmonize and standardize the collection of personal identifying information of all citizens and legally resident non-citizens, the Ugandan parliament empowered NIRA to be solely responsible for and to share that data with other government agencies that may require that data. NIRA is also specifically charged with developing a National Identification Register of the county’s citizens and legally resident non-citizens.
As of April 2016, work on fully establishing the agency is continuing. A board of directors is yet to be fully constituted by the Minister of Internal Affairs. Registration of people between ages 0 and 16 years has not yet started. Mechanisms for registering Ugandans living and working outside Uganda are still being worked out.As at November 2015, there was no law authorizing the re-issuance of replacement cards to recipients who had lost the originals. At that time, over 16 million cards had been issued, but close to three million citizens had not picked up their IDs.
Governance
The executive director of NIRA is Rosemary Kisembo, an ICT expert and administrator who was sworn in during the year 2021.
Mission
“To Establish and Maintain a Credible, Secure and Update-to-date Register of all Persons in Uganda for National Security and Socio-economic Development.”
Vision
To be a Center of Excellence in providing Identification and Registration of persons.
Values (PIIP-TC)
- Professionalism
- Integrity
- Innovation
- Partnerships
- Teamwork
- Customer Centered
Mandate
The Mandate of NIRA is to create, manage, maintain & operationalize the National Identification Register by registering all citizens of Uganda, registering non-citizens of Uganda who are lawfully residents in Uganda, registering births and deaths, and assigning a unique National Identification Number to every person registered.
Services & Forms
Form 2: Request to confirm information in the Register
Notice of Birth of a Child.
Form 11: Application to register presumed death
Form 12: Notification of Death.
Form 13: Certificate of cause of Death
Form 5: Notice of Intention of Change of Name of Adult