photo credit: nimc.gov.ng

With a huge number of Nigerians yet to register for their NIN and thousands of others seeking to effect one correction or the other in the details, the job of the new Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Bisoye Coker-Odusote, has been well cut out for her, especially as Nigeria is about 46 million short of meeting the World Bank’s target of 148 million issued NIN by June 1, 2024, under the Digital Identification for Development (ID4D) project.

While the tasks before Coker-Odusote remain very huge as many Nigerians are yet to register, especially in the rural areas, kudos must, however, be given to the immediate past DG who at the time of leaving the commission, NIN issuance had hit 101.6 million with over 60 million issued to Nigerians amidst several challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, within the last four years.

Recall that in December 2020, former President Muhammadu Buhari had given a directive to the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, then under Prof. Isa Pantami, to withdraw the licence of any service provider (MTN, Globacom, Airtel and 9mobile), which failed to link NIN to subscribers’ SIM cards. This announcement drastically increased the impetus among Nigerians to get their NINs.

photo credit: Legit. ng

Nigerians have expressed they want the present DG to prioritise complete national coverage to speed up the clearing of the backlog of unfinished registrations and also drastically reduce the man-hours they lose in their bid to get registered by the commission or have erroneously inputted data corrected.

A banker, who simply identified herself as Bukola Adegbaju, was seen at the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) office in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, recently. Her mission was to correct an error on her National Identification Number (NIN) slip, which had to do with her date of birth, but she had not been attended to after three days of visiting the office.

In her words,  “The mistake was from NIMC because I gave them the correct details. When the slip came out, it was another thing entirely that came out. I contacted someone at the FESTAC Secretariat, who said I should bring N40,000 and that within four days, the error would be sorted, but I don’t have that amount of money. That’s why I came to Alausa, where I learnt they collect N15,000 to rectify mistakes but I have not been attended to. The crowd is too large, I need the corrected NIN slip to process my international passport. I want to leave this country,”

Chinedu Okorie, who also wanted to correct an error made in his son’s NIN had to visit the Ikeja office severally to get it done, even with insider assistance, but it would take three months for the correction to be effected in all other databases.“What it means is that I have to suspend my son’s visa until the correction reflects completely. If not, the discrepancy in the names would deny him a study visa to the United States,” Okorie lamented.

Harrison Etiku, who visited the centre for name correction, also said: “I have been here since 7 am and up till now (2:47 pm) I’m yet to be attended to, I have been in the sun, walking up and down.”

The dissatisfactions expressed by Nigerians on the operations of NIMC should not be overlooked. While the hard work of the past DG, Aliyu Aziz is commendable, the new DG can do better and work on identified gaps to move the commission forward for the good of Nigeria.

photo credit: nimc.gov.ng

With a huge number of Nigerians yet to register for their NIN and thousands of others seeking to effect one correction or the other in the details, the job of the new Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Bisoye Coker-Odusote, has been well cut out for her, especially as Nigeria is about 46 million short of meeting the World Bank’s target of 148 million issued NIN by June 1, 2024, under the Digital Identification for Development (ID4D) project.

While the tasks before Coker-Odusote remain very huge as many Nigerians are yet to register, especially in the rural areas, kudos must, however, be given to the immediate past DG who at the time of leaving the commission, NIN issuance had hit 101.6 million with over 60 million issued to Nigerians amidst several challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, within the last four years.

Recall that in December 2020, former President Muhammadu Buhari had given a directive to the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, then under Prof. Isa Pantami, to withdraw the licence of any service provider (MTN, Globacom, Airtel and 9mobile), which failed to link NIN to subscribers’ SIM cards. This announcement drastically increased the impetus among Nigerians to get their NINs.

photo credit: Legit. ng

Nigerians have expressed they want the present DG to prioritise complete national coverage to speed up the clearing of the backlog of unfinished registrations and also drastically reduce the man-hours they lose in their bid to get registered by the commission or have erroneously inputted data corrected.

A banker, who simply identified herself as Bukola Adegbaju, was seen at the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) office in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, recently. Her mission was to correct an error on her National Identification Number (NIN) slip, which had to do with her date of birth, but she had not been attended to after three days of visiting the office.

In her words,  “The mistake was from NIMC because I gave them the correct details. When the slip came out, it was another thing entirely that came out. I contacted someone at the FESTAC Secretariat, who said I should bring N40,000 and that within four days, the error would be sorted, but I don’t have that amount of money. That’s why I came to Alausa, where I learnt they collect N15,000 to rectify mistakes but I have not been attended to. The crowd is too large, I need the corrected NIN slip to process my international passport. I want to leave this country,”

Chinedu Okorie, who also wanted to correct an error made in his son’s NIN had to visit the Ikeja office severally to get it done, even with insider assistance, but it would take three months for the correction to be effected in all other databases.“What it means is that I have to suspend my son’s visa until the correction reflects completely. If not, the discrepancy in the names would deny him a study visa to the United States,” Okorie lamented.

Harrison Etiku, who visited the centre for name correction, also said: “I have been here since 7 am and up till now (2:47 pm) I’m yet to be attended to, I have been in the sun, walking up and down.”

The dissatisfactions expressed by Nigerians on the operations of NIMC should not be overlooked. While the hard work of the past DG, Aliyu Aziz is commendable, the new DG can do better and work on identified gaps to move the commission forward for the good of Nigeria.