…Alleges sale of slot for between N10,000 to N50,000
A civil society organisation, Security Situation Room, SSR, has called on President Bola Tinubu to prevent the palpable hardship being experienced by parents and wards as they register for the ongoing West Africa Examinations Council, WEAC, and Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board Examinations, JAMB, for their children or themselves respectively.
It called for the decentralisation of the activities of National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, to make it accessible to the Nigerian people.
SSR in a statement on Thursday, by its convener, Mr. Douglas Ogbankwa also accused NIMC officers of selling lots to unsuspecting members of the public for between N10,000 to about N50,000, per slot.
The statement, said: “The security situation calls for the immediate unbundling of the activities of NIMC, to make it accessible to the Nigerian people.
“Before now, registration for the National Identification Number, NIN, takes place in multiple places in any city in Nigeria.
“The process was seamless and people did their NIN in minutes. Now, the leadership of NIMC, with out any credible reason has centralized the processing of NIN only in one location in any City.
“This has made it very difficult for Nigerian parents and students, ‘who need the NIN to register for National Examinations for their wards or themselves respectively to now sleep in NIMC offices all across the country, to be able to meet up with the timing of being attended to.
“Sometimes, civil servants are the cause of hardship for Nigerians and every one will blame President Bola Tinubu.
“This is a clarion call for President Tinubu to come to the aid of Nigerians by decentralizing the process, as this callous centralization of the processing of NIN is a threat to the safety and security of Nigerians, who sleep in mark shift structures to be able to meet up with the timing of being attended to at NIMC Offices all across the country.
READ ALSO: EFCC seeks arrest of Ex-NDDC boss, Omatsuli over N3.6bn Fraud
“The Immigration Service just commenced online application for Nigerian International Passports. Why can’t NIMC do the same?
“Need we talk about the huge corruption going on at NIMC offices all across Nigeria, where a priority slot is being sold by NIMC officers to unsuspecting members of the public from the sum of N10,000 to about N50,000, per slot.
“So, the forced centralization of NIMC activities is a deliberate ploy by NIMC to extort Innocent Nigerians.
“The tension generated all across the country is capable of igniting a spontaneous civic unrest that may compromise the safety and security of the state.
“The Federal Government must move Immediately to stem this dastardly arrangement, causing Nigerians pains.
“The Security Situation Room calls for the removal of the Director General of NIMC, who initiated this callous policy, which ultimately is to extort Nigerians.
“We need transformational leadership in this country and not transactional leadership.
“Bringing about hardship to obtain National Identification number is a needless charade that brings about negative perception of the President and Commander -In-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Tinubu government.
“The President may not be aware of this development, hence this call to bring Mr. President’s attention to it, which is a cry for the voiceless convening this issue,” the statement added.
