Nigeria’s National Identity Management Commission has said correction of details in the National Identity Number (NIN) will attract varying charges.
The charge, according to NIMC regional coordinator in Alausa, Lagos, Funmi Opensanwo, varies from correction of details like name, address, card renewal or replacement and date of birth.
“The money we charge is for modification fee,” Opensanwo said during a television programme monitored in Lagos.
“For the date of birth correction, the processing fee is N15,000. For card renewal or card replacement, there is a processing fee of N5,000.
“For a modification of your name and address, there is a fee of N5,000.”
She noted that the fees “are for services and (things) to be corrected. They are payable to the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and not anybody.”
NIMC regional coordinator’s explanations was in response to allegations that officials of the commission have been demanding illegal fees from Nigerians to link their NIN to their SIM cards.
Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) in December 2020 gave a two-week ultimatum to telecom service providers to block phone numbers without NIN.
The directive has since sparked an outrage amongst Nigerians who argue that government agencies can retrieve their information on other data platform to update their SIM card registration.
Currently, Nigeria has multiple citizen’s collection data platforms – the Bank Verification Numbers (BVN), National Identification Numbers (NIN), passport, driver’s license, SIM card registration and voters’ card all having the same information of individuals.
The Nigerian government has said telecom service providers who fail to block SIM cards unregistered with NIN after the two-weeks risk withdrawal of their operational license.
“The submission of NIN by subscribers to take place within two weeks (from today December 16, 2020 and end by 30 December, 2020),” NCC spokesperson Ike Adinde said in a statement.
The ultimatum has since been extended by up to six weeks, from Dec. 30 to Feb. 9, 2021, and cancelled the use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) charges for verification across the country.
Despite the extension, many Nigerians lament the strenuous procedure in trying to link their SIM cards to their NIN as well as those applying for fresh registration. This has led to the violation of COVID-19 protocols of social distancing as thousands continue to besiege registration centres in the country.
Opensanwo attributed the increase in applicants to telecommunication companies’ decision to block SIM cards of people whose NIN is not linked to their numbers.
“Yesterday we did not experience what we’re experiencing today,” Opensanwo said. “The fillers we got is that most of the applicants’ numbers were being blocked.”
She said the commission is “trying to manage the situation” of overcrowding at many of the registration centres.