Pains Of NIN Registration

Controversies have been trailing the ongoing National Identity Number (NIN) enrollment as the exercise imposes severe hardship on Nigerians in various centres across the country. The process has left a good number of people with frustration on an unprecedented scale.
NIN enrollment activities seldom succeed without physical altercations. An enrollee is expected to visit a designated (NIMC) centre to undertake biometrics after filling a form. Then they are asked to return for the NIN, usually after a minimum period of two weeks.
NIMC officials, their cronies and security agents among other concerned personnel, have made the process a fiendish complexity for Nigerians in dire need of the registration by extorting them. In some enrollment centres, there are stipulated amounts of money NIMC officials demand from applicants to get them registered.
In other centres, NIMC officials work in close collaboration with security agents to perpetrate the illicit act. The officials usually demand between N500 and N5,000 depending on the corresponding multitudes in the affected centres and the exigencies of the enrollment. Those who pay the money are given preference while others who fail to comply wait perpetually in exasperation.
Some applicants get desperately far to refuel NIMC generators to prevent officials from finding reasons to end registration for the day. Those who cannot bear the rigours of waiting and returning each day, gratify men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to expedite the process. The resentment has made many Nigerians move to other cities to have their enrollments effected.
In profoundly populated areas across various states and cities, the enrollment modus has been tough on applicants, particularly with the development that requires students seeking university admission to have NIN as a criterion.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) had in September last year directed prospective candidates for the 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to enroll for NIN in order to check examination fraud, address the challenges of underage and multiple registrations, and cut down enrollment costs.
However, in a sudden wrench, the examination body announced a pull back from the initial plan to implement the policy with effect from next year, citing technical issues, stakeholders’ concerns, and difficulties faced by candidates in the NIN registration.
Going by the galling experiences of Nigerians in the NIN centres, it is doubtful whether the NIMC/JAMB collaboration will be successful. While registration centres are few and far between, the NIMC grossly lacks adequate staff and equipment to discharge the exercise.
Given the grisly situation, the House of Representatives advised JAMB to suspend the NIN-for-UTME policy. While we commend JAMB for putting off the scheme to next year, we urge the Board to extend the time furthermore until there are enough awareness and preparations.
To facilitate efficient NIN registration process, therefore, we suggest that more centres be created across the country while additional equipment and staff be mobilised for the exercise. We equally urge NIMC to end the massive corruption in the registration centres and hope the culprits get the sanctions they deserve.
Also, the commission needs to establish active collaboration with states and local governments for valuable and less-stressful registration. It is unbelievable and quite grotesque that policy administrators in this country only mull over the benefits of policies without any careful consideration for their execution.
We recall a recent statement by the Director-General of NIMC, Aliyu Aziz, admitting that the NIMC had succeeded in registering only 35 million Nigerians. We are doubtful if half of this number has been issued the permanent registration card. For a country of about 200 million people, the performance of the commission in this task is hardly good enough.
The Tide deeply deplores the chaotic nature of the NIN registration exercise nationwide and impetrates the authorities involved to ensure that the task is seamless and less hazardous. There is a need for those in charge to simplify the registration process. We hope that NIMC management is aware of the many obstacles that stand between Nigerians and a successful NIN registration.