The director general of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Mr. Aliyu Aziz, has said that 15 million people with Bank Verification Number (BVN) have been linked with the National Identification Number (NIN).
Speaking in an interview with The Guardian in Abuja, Aziz said the commission has adequate equipment which, according to him, have not been utilised fully.
Aziz stated that part of NIMC’s mandate is to harmonise and integrate part of the existing databases and so far, only 15 million BVN that has been harmonized with NIN.
“So, if you have your BVN and you were captured, what you need to do is to go our website and update your record and then you would be issued the NIN,” he said.
He recalled that Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) registration has been ongoing since 2008, but that improper SIM registration remains an issue.
“Wherever there is a crime, a SIM is always related in solving those crimes. That is why government wants this done, and to make sure that that is done, government always reminds the telecommunications companies, even last year, that that must be done.
“You also find out that unregistered SIMs were being sold and used for crimes, hence the exercise is very important, and that is where the linkage comes in, because by law, it is only NIN that is the token for identity.”
According to Aziz, COVID-19 measures put in place during enrollment have been effective, noting: “The measures have been with us in Nigeria since March last year and we are expected to stick to those measures.
“For NIMC, we are able to control that inside our enrollment centres, but when it is outside our enrollment centres, that is where the difficulty is. For places like Lagos and Abuja, we do get the law enforcement officers to help us,” he said.
Meanwhile, NIMC employees yesterday suspended the industrial action which they embarked upon on Thursday over the fear of COVID-19 spread in the agency.
It was gathered that the workers decided to put the strike on hold after a meeting with the federal government, where it was agreed that the demands of the employees would be addressed.
The President, Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), NIMC Unit, Mr. Asekokhai Lucky, confirmed the suspension of the strike.
He said workers of the commission across the country were being contacted to resume work by Monday, January 11 and begin the enrollment of citizens for NINs.
The strike had grounded activities at NIMC offices across the country, as the workers stopped work, leaving large crowds of people who had visited the commission to obtain their NINs stranded.
“We just finished the meeting and the minister (of communications and digital economy) has intervened in the matter. He has promised to look into our grievances.
“So, we will be meeting with the minister on Tuesday and on that note we’ve called off the strike and all workers will return to their offices by Monday morning,” he said.
He said the Trade Union Congress (TUC) which ASCSN is affiliated to, was part of the meeting with the government, as a 21-day ultimatum was served on the management of NIMC.
“We actually served the management of NIMC a 21-day ultimatum based on the issues of welfare and safety against COVID-19 that we raised.
“The ultimatum starts counting today officially. And for it to start counting officially from today we had to step down the strike we embarked on yesterday. So on that note also we’ve called off the strike, while the ultimatum starts running,” he added.
