Officials of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), saddled with the responsibility of National Identification Number (NIN) enrolment and issuance, National e-ID card issuance, identity verification as well as data harmonization and authentication have been caught selling enrolment forms to residents who want to be captured.
The officials were caught selling enrolment forms at the Dutse Alhaji Primary school located at Bwari Area Councils to residents who trooped out to be captured in the ongoing NIN registration.
MAWA official who covered the exercise and also was enrolled at the centre, uncovered how the NIMC officials collected the sum of N50 for each of the forms given to those who came to the centre to be registered.
When confronted by the MAWA official who was forced to pay for the enrolment form, Mr. Kabir Eweje, a NIMC official who is the leader of the team, said the payment is for the cost of producing the form.
Another NIMC official, Mr. Vincent, threatened to collect MAWA’s official telephone for taking pictures and assured her that she will be affected if she dares to expose that they are collecting money.
MAWA Foundation learned that all persons who turned out at the Dutse Alhaji Primary School were forced to pay for the enrolment form, while those who refused to pay were not given forms.
Mr. Isaac Ibiam, one of the persons who turned out at the venue, while speaking to MAWA Foundation, said all persons who have since been captured were forced to pay for the enrolment form.
He, however, added that those who refused to pay for the enrolment form were not given and not captured. He questioned why such an exercise will be monetized by the government.
The Nigerian government had weeks ago instructed that citizens’ NIN must be linked to their telephone numbers while directing the telecommunication companies to disconnect any telephone number that does not have NIN linked to it.
A state directive that has resulted in many of the citizens trooping out in large numbers to enroll for NIM so they can secure their numbers from been disconnected. A development, NIMC officials have since begun exploiting Nigerians who are making attempts to get enrolled.
