By Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
Obtaining the National Identity Number (NIN) is a national mandate that every Nigerian must undertake, if they intend to access such things or documents as banking, connectivity, driver’s license and international passport, among others.
With more and more public and private sector services being tied to the 11 digits number and the recent disconnections of over 72 million lines for defaulting on the
SIM-NIN linkage, a huge number of Nigerians, including children who aim to sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), are scampering to the various enrollment centers on daily basis trying to obtain their NIN.
Unfortunately, some individuals have decided to take advantage of the plight of those who desperately need the NIN by deploying various means of swindling them of their hard-earned money.
There are allegation of extortion by staff of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) at enrollment centres as well as outrageous hike in NIN service fees by private agents contracted to do the job in remote areas.
Some unscrupulous persons have also cloned the NIMC’s social media pages, using them to defraud unsuspecting citizens on the pretext of offering them a faster platform to obtain the NIN.
In addition, there are phony sites requesting users to input their NIN before they can proceed. The NIN can be used to access and expose a person’s personal details and therefore, should be confidential.
The latest batch of swindlers are those reportedly moving to schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the name of NIMC partners, asking children to pay a fee to be captured for the NIN, while they propose remittance of some of the loot to the school management.
The management of Royal Nurture Academy in Lugbe, recounted to DailySun, how someone visited the school last week, requesting to register their students at N500 each for an exercise that is meant to be free of charge.
According to the school, the man was not coherent enough in passing his massage, so he was asked to leave. He left, but not without dropping a phone number in case they changed their minds and decided to call him back for business.
When DailySun called the number, the man claimed the money was for printing and logistics.
He said: “We go round schools to actually capture these pupils. Because like you know, this has been going on for a while but then they extended it to children so it is not only for adults. We capture them and we print their slips and bring down to them. For mobility and printing, that is why we are attaching N500 for each child.
“Also, for giving us the opportunity to do this in your school, we have decided to give the school N100 for each child that is captured.
“We are one of the private agents that NIMC contracted to carry out the registrations since they could not do it all by themselves.You can pay us as we register the kids, afterwards or according to the number of children we register in a day.”
Reacting to this, NIMC spokesperson, Mr Kayode Adegoke, emphasized that the NIN registration is free and should not be paid for. According to him, the government pays private agents for every NIN they generate.
“They are not supposed to take money. Registration is free for everybody. We pay them for every enrollment that generates a NIN,” he said.
Besides, on its official website, the Commission asked Nigerians not to pay anyone to obtain a NIN or e-ID as they are free. It also warned about submitting Identification details and making payments on unauthorized sites of social media pages for NIMC services.
Messages on NIMC’s site reads: “Do not pay anyone to obtain your NIN or e-ID card, they are free. Beware of fake social media accounts (Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, etc.) posing as official NIMC or ‘fan’ pages asking you to make payments to them to get your NIN, NIN Slip or e-ID card for you. Your data could be acquired and used for criminal activities.
“Beware of fraudsters posing as National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) agents or staff.
“Do not pay money to anyone offering to help you speed up the NIN enrollment process or get the national e-ID card for you. You have to enroll and collect your card, when it is ready by yourself
“Do not make payments on unauthorised sites or social media pages for NIMC Services
“Avoid submitting your NIN and identification details as well as making payments to unauthorised, fraudulent websites and social media pages run by individuals illegally charging fees while collecting and exposing personal ID details online.”
“Beware of messages from people using dubious email addresses designed to resemble NIMC emails asking you to click on links to fake websites and upload your BVNs or NINs.
“It is safer to do Online pre-enrollment yourself using Personal Computers, Internet enabled telephones and other devices, then heading to a NIMC enrollment centre near you.”