NIMC arrests illegal NIN enrolment agents in Kano
The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), last week, raided illegal operators of the National Identification Number (NIN) in Kano and made some arrests with the support of its legal team.
NIMC, which gave the information on its official twitter handle explained: “We have arrested some illegal operators of NIMC activities by some Business Centre operators in Kano metropolis. For three days we went round Kano and we successfully made arrest of some illegal NIN enrolment agents, who pretend to be licensed NIN enrolment agents and deceive some Nigerians to illegally enrol them into the NIMC database.”
The Legal Officer at NIMC office in Kano, who was part of the raid, said the exercise was to find out areas where illegal NIMC activities were going on in Kano, especially in business centres.
He said arrests were made and NIMC documents were recovered in the business centres during the exercise.
He listed the documents to include NIMC’s original NIN slips, fake NIMC plastics identity cards and other vital documents that were not supposed to be under the custody of non-NIMC staff.
He said those arrested have been handed over to the Police and investigation has commenced, and they would be charged to court for prosecution after the Police investigation.
NIMC had warned Nigerians not to register with agents that are not duly licensed by NIMC.
NIMC had in December last year, licensed 200 enrolment agents comprising of 173 agents and 30 state governments/public sector institutions to conduct enrolment of all persons, including legal residents into the national identity database of the the National Identity Management Commission on behalf of NIMC.
The approval, which was given in different categories, included all telecoms operators and private companies, and they are expected to commence enrollment into the NIMC database.
Head of Communications at NIMC, Mr. Kayode Adegoke, who confirmed the licensing of the agents, said they have been mandated to commence registration immediately.
Last week, the federal government reactivated 20 enrolment centers within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to make the process of NIN enrolment much easier.
The reactivated centres commenced enrolment activities from Monday last week, and NIMC has warned Nigerians not to enrol outside of the licensed enrolment agents.
