Registration on the accepted centres of the Nationwide Identification Administration Fee (NIMC) for the Nationwide Identification Quantity (NIN) now attracts between N3000 and N5000, it was gathered on the weekend.
That is coming because the Could 6, 2021 deadline set by the Federal Authorities for subscribers to hyperlink their NIN with their Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) playing cards and the Could 15, 2021 deadline set by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry (DE) examination registration draw nearer.
A mom of three and proprietor of a restaurant in Egbeda, a Lagos suburb, Sister Mary, stated she paid N40,000 to get her three youngsters and her 4 employees registered for NIN at a authorities accepted centres in Alimosho Native Authorities Space (LGA) of the state.
“My brother, I’ve no alternative however to pay. This nation is in a sorry state. Once I obtained to the place with my household as early as 5.25am, I noticed very previous males, pregnant ladies and youngsters, God is aware of in the event that they slept there. The deal was N5000 per particular person. I paid as a result of a few of children will use the NIN for his or her JAMB registration,” she recalled.
One other mom of 4, Madam Esther Kokuma, a civil servant, stated although she had heard NIMC come out to say registration for NIN is free however each the place she had visited, money was at all times demanded.
“For my two youngsters that will probably be writing JAMB, I paid N5,000 to register for NIN at Ikola. Once I instructed their dad about it, he warned me in opposition to going to pay as a result of it was purported to be free however the stress from my children grew to become intense,” she stated.
Two registration centres in Ayobo, a suburb of Lagos, additionally cost between N2500 and N3000 for registration for NIN.
In Ekiti State nevertheless, the extortion is minimal as solely N1000 is paid for registration.
Temitope Adebayo stated she spent N500 to acquire the shape and N200 to gather the cardboard when it was prepared. She nevertheless stated different individuals stated they paid about N1000 to get theirs.
From Alimosho to Ikorodu to Surulere and different elements of the state, it has been the identical story of extortion. The few centres the place money could not have been a sine qua non are these run by the telecom operators however they a only a few and largely unknown to many subscribers.
Attendants at a number of the registration centres insisted that their employers paid money to the Federal Authorities acquire the licence and purchase the gear to conduct the train. “So after investing to purchase gear, practice staffers and pay for the licence, the place does the federal government count on us to get the money to run the enterprise? You possibly can see we’re three working at this centre, on the finish of the month we accumulate wage,. So the federal government is conscious of the cash we’re amassing” she stated on situation of anonymity.
Calls put to the 2 cell strains of the spokesman of NIMC, Kayode Adegoke weren’t picked. The textual content messages despatched too did not elicit response.
However investigation confirmed that 16 state governments had been licensed to conduct the train. They’re Abia, Akwa Ibom, Gombe, Lagos, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Oyo, Ogun, Sokoto, and Zamfara states. The general public sector establishments granted licences are the Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC) Nationwide Pension Fee (PenCom), Central Financial institution of Nigeria (CBN), Nationwide Inhabitants Fee (NPC), Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee (EFCC), the Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC), Joint Tax Board 9JTB) and the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST).
Others are the Navy Pensions Board, Abuja Enterprise Company, Company Affairs Fee (CAC), Nationwide Well being Insurance coverage Scheme (NHIS), the Nationwide Agricultural Extension and Analysis Liaison Providers, and the Nationwide Fee for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Individuals.
Apart from the MNOs, similar to Glo, MTN, Airtel and 9mobile and others that had been licensed by the federal government, some non-governmental organisations had been additionally granted approvals. Investigations confirmed that African Youth Development Basis, An Nadaa Educationl Basis, Arrida Reduction Basis and Hadejia Ina Mafita had been among the many NGOs granted license to conduct the train.
However all these licencees are hardly seen conducting the registration for Nigerians.
The Minister of Communication and Digital Financial system, Dr Isa Pantami had on the twilight of final yr directed the Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC) and telecoms operators to make sure the mixing of SIM with NIN warning harsh punitive measures such working licence withdrawal to recalcitrant carriers. A deadline of December 31, 2020 was fastened earlier than transferring the deadline to January 19 and February 9, 2021, following sequence of pushbacks from the general public and the inefficient NIN enrolment procedures.
Stakeholders within the telecoms trade such because the President, Nigeria Pc Society (NCS) Prof Simon Sodiya stated the choice of the fee to embark on this train is in response to the rising instances of legal actions similar to monetary crimes, kidnapping, banditry, armed robberies and different crimes which leverage quick access to the nationwide telecoms community.
The Federal Authorities had additional introduced the extension of the deadline for individuals to hyperlink their NINs with their SIM early this month.
The deadline extension adopted had a request offered to President Muhammadu Buhari to that impact and his subsequent endorsement.
An announcement dated April 2, 2021 collectively signed by the Director of Public Affairs at NCC, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde and the Head of Company Communications at NIMC, Mr Kayode Adegoke, introduced the brand new date.
The approval to increase the interval of the NIN-SIM linkage to Could 6 was given on the assembly of the Ministerial Job Pressure on NIN-SIM knowledge linkage and key stakeholders held in Abuja.
The assertion famous that over 51 million individuals now have their NINs with a major improve within the month-to-month enrolments.
“Based mostly on the updates of the NIN-registration course of, over 51 million individuals have been assigned NINs. There are numerous individuals who have enrolled and are within the strategy of being assigned NINs. With every particular person having a mean of three to 4 SIMs, the overall variety of SIMs tied to NINs could be near the overall variety of registered SIMs within the nation.
“The present variety of month-to-month enrollments has elevated considerably to about 2.6 million registrations. There has additionally been a outstanding improve within the variety of enrolment centres throughout the nation with about 3,800 centres accessible for enrollments. There are additionally many extra new centres within the pipeline,” the assertion stated.
The assembly chaired by the Minister of Communications and Digital Financial system, Dr Isa Pantami, was attended by numerous key stakeholders, together with the chairman of the Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa.
Whereas addressing the assembly, the EFCC chief stated the NIN-SIM card linkage would assist the Federal Authorities’s effort in checkmating the actions of fraudsters and cybercriminals.
Cellular expertise is more and more being utilized in crime-fighting as cellphones have name historical past, contacts, textual content messages, internet browser historical past, location info, and so on that present essential info for crime fighters. Data contained in cellphones can function a place to begin for legal investigations and supply subsequent leads. Digital forensics, a department of science that offers with the restoration and investigation of fabric present in digital units is changing into a well-liked self-discipline.
