NIN: Minister directs immediate suspension of NIMC officials extorting Nigerians

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Ali Pantami, has directed the immediate suspension of officials involved in extortion of applicants at the NIMC Bauchi and Kaduna State offices.

This directive came on the heels of public outcry that some personnel of NIMC, particularly at some enrolment centres in Bauchi and Kaduna were capitalising on the rush for NIN by the public to perpetuate fraudulent activities inimical to policy directive of the Federal Government which requires mobile network subscribers to update their SIM registration with a valid National Identification Number (NIN).

The directive of the minister was contained in a press release signed by Kayode Adegoke, head of corporate communications.

Mr Pantami restated his zero tolerance stance on extortion, bribery and corruption and further noted that such unethical practices, if allowed to fester and not nipped in the bud by taking stiffer actions against the culprits, has the potency of derailing the SIM-NIN Integration project.

Enrolment for the National Identification Number (NIN) is free of charge, and on no occasion should anyone pay to obtain an enrolment form or to have their biometrics captured.

All personnel involved in the enrolment and NIN issuance exercise must carry out their respective duties professionally, fairly and with integrity, according to the statement

”In light of the above, we wish to call on the general public to assist us in putting our commitments into action by sending proof of any nefarious activity within and around our enrolment centers (snapshot, footage, audio recordings) to 08157691214; 08157691071 or e-mail actu@nimc.gov.ng, a part of the statement read.

This newspaper has reported how some staffers of NIMC have turned the NIN enrollment into some sort of racket to cream off money from enrollees.