Hadiza Dagabana, Acting Director-General. National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), says Nigerians should always follow due process and report cases of extortion while trying to collect their National Identity Cards to curb fraud.
Dagabana told the News Agency of Nigeria at the NIMC office in Abuja that the report circulating that the Commission demands money for collection of ID-cards is ‘fake news’.
The director general said that the Commission was established by law to carry out identity management, and therefore, advised Nigerians who have registered to go and obtain their ID-cards free of charge.
According to her, we have currently established 164 locations for the national identity management registration processes at both Federal and State levels.
“The standard is to have an enrollment centre within a population of 50,000 people, when we enroll the first thing a person is issued is that National Identification Number that is mandatory for us to issue and we issued it free of charge.
“We do not charge for enrolment and issuance of national identification number, we have received reports from some locations and schools where some individuals have approached them asking them to pay a thousand or five hundred or five thousands naira for them to enroll their students that is not from NIMC.
“We would encourage any person that is approached to pay money to please write to the DG NIMC and submit those complaints or go our website and report those kind of incident and it would be dealt with.
“We will encourage Nigerians that were approached to make sure they take information of those people may be their picture, number or verifiable contact number of those people, so that we will be able to trace those persons and act accordingly.
“Nigerians also should support us and be our watchdog to make sure that we deliver our services according to the rules and regulations of the land.
“We have a small bureau that we are printing, as I am telling you now we have over 700,000 cards that are lying down in our offices that Nigerians had not come to claim.
“Because when you register with us you provide a contact number and email address we have spent money sending SMS to the numbers that were provided for us,” she said.
The Acting D-G also said it is not mandatory for any person to go about with national ID-cards, saying the world had gone past people carrying cards.
She noted that people should always take note of their National Identification Number (NIN), which is the number encrypted on the card to avoid problem of any sort.
Dagabana said the commission has also made its services easy for everyone to access; verification on our data-base is trapped and authenticated.
“If you want to re-issue or retrieve your NIN, dial *346# with the phone number you gave us on your data base with just N20, you will get back your identification number.”
She said that the Commission is partnering with other development-based organisations to promote funding of digital identity management.
She listed the World Bank and European Union (UN) to be among other key development agencies under the UN Sustainable Development Goals assisting the commission.
“Identity management is one of the key points in development goals, and we are working towards achieving targets,” she said.
Meanwhile, the NIMC says it has over 700, 000 National e-ID cards yet to be collectedby Nigerians from its offices nationwide.
The Acting Director-General National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) disclosed this in an interview with the NAN in Abuja.
Dagabana urged all concerned applicants, who are yet to collect their card, to request for their Identity card nationwide, or request for its transfer to their new location.
She said that the Commission has registered over 37 million Nigerians in its National Identity Database out of over 200 million Nigerian populations.
She called on enrollees, who have changed location in which they registered for the National Identification Number (NIN) to apply for the transfer of their National e-ID card.
The director general said that the process allows successful enrollees to request for the transfer of their National e-ID Card to any NIMC Registration and Card Collection Centres of their choice for collection.
Dagabana said that the transfer request could be made from any of the NIMC Registration and Card Collection Centres nationwide, other than where the individual enrolled for the National Identification Number.
The acting director-general explained that some have either relocated from the locations where they enrolled, or have changed the phone numbers they provided at the point of enrolment into the National Identity Database (NIDB).
“As I’m telling you now, we have over 700, 000 cards that are lying there in our offices, that the owners have not come to claim.
“Because when you registered with us you provide a contact number and email address.
“We have spent money sending SMS to the numbers that were provided for us.
“Some people have moved, some have changed their numbers, they have not come to our database to update their numbers, so how are we going to know that you have changed your numbers?’’ she said.
Dagabana, therefore, called on such persons to visit any NIMC office closest to them to request for a card transfer form, which they would fill and submit to the State Coordinator or Local Government Supervisor for processing.
Also, the NIMC says the adoption of the National Identification Number (NIN) as criteria for all examinations in the country will tackle malpractices such as impersonation and promote transparency.
NIMC Acting-Director-General made the suggestion in an interview with NAN in Abuja.
She said although registration for NIN has already started at the Primary School level of education across the country, it should be encouraged to further enhance confidence in the nation’s examination system.
According to her, doing so will help to stop impersonation, adding that registration processes for NIN should become mandatory before enrollment for public examinations.
So, in the case of JAMB there are issues, there are impersonation and they were looking at way to remedy those issues and mitigate those issues.
“The only way you can identify a person sitting for JAMB examination, is with his identification number issued by JAMB.
“The communication is before you go and register for JAMB make sure you have your national identification number (NIN) because that is what will identify you.
“And you know the beauty of that is the moment JAMB and all other educational stakeholders meet and decide to use NIN that means from that period up to the time you get your any certificate in your life that NIN will be attached to you.
“So, if you get your ID that is what will tie you to all the things you do in your life.
“For those categories of persons under 16 we tie their enrollment because their biometrics is not yet fully formed with the identity of their parent or guardian.
“It is only that when you fully reach 16 years, you come back and your finger prints are taken.
“But any Identity card you get from day one if you are going today and you are taken to register, we register you it is that ID for life.”
According to her, your NIN must be attached to whatever certificate you get; then if you have your ID-card, it will to be tied to everything you do as Nigerian.
Dagabana decried inadequate investment in the operations of the Commission, and therefore, urged the Federal Government to prioritise identity management to achieve the desired goals.