December 10, 2024
By Idris Buba
If according to the Deputy Director/Head of Strategy & Program Office at National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, Dr. Alvan Ikoku that National Identification Number, NIN enrollment within Nigeria is completely free and no vendor is expected to charge for it because they are being paid for every successful enrollment, why the charges by the Front-End Partners, FEP,
The daily experience in the hands of private enrollment vendor under the NIMC’s Front-End Partners, FEP, by most Nigerians seeking to obtain NIN which has now been made a mandatory prerequisite for documentations in Nigeria, has become a source of concern.
According to Investigation by Nairametrics, Nigerians are made to pay as much as N6,500 for something the authorities say is free.
In trying to avoid the stress and loss of manpower a father went through to acquired his NIN sometime in 2021 that took almost 24 hours at the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, office in Ikeja, in November this year, he went to a private enrollment vendor under the NIMC’s Front-End Partners, FEP, program, to register his son in preparation for WAEC, where he was asked to pay N6,500 for NIN enrollment.
While NIMC, had said NIN enrollment within Nigeria is completely free and no vendor is expected to charge for it because they are being paid for every successful enrollment, he still ended up paying N1,900 at what he described as a more affordable centre at Agege Local Government secretariat, where “The official insisted that the enrollment was free but the N1,900 was for the printing of the slip,” he shared.
Though NIMC insist “In Nigeria, NIN enrollment is free. If they charge you, or anyone that you know, please report to us; we are also looking for people to use as an example for others.”
“They are paid for every enrollment. For those who go to hard-to-reach areas, they get paid slightly more because of the difficulties of going to those areas,” Ikoku added.
He noted that only diaspora enrolments should attract charges and the charges are fixed.
Front-End Partners, FEPs, on their part also have justification for charging Nigerians who want to acquire the national identity through them.
According to one of the enrollment vendors who was said to have spoken with Nairametrics under the condition of anonymity, charging is the only way they can continue to run the business and enrol more Nigerians.
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He noted that though the contract with NIMC was clear that the Commission would pay for every enrollment submitted, the delays in payment by the NIMC necessitated the collection of fees from Nigerians who want to enroll.
“We are a business with daily overheads. To start this, you first have to invest in the machines aside from the license. NIMC promises to pay us, but you can ask them how often they pay? Many of us were owed for over two years until recently when we were paid part of it,” he said.
“We pay rent, pay electricity bill and buy printer ink and paper. Before, we used to charge between N1,000 and N1,500, but as prices of everything have gone up we have to increase the charges as well to sustain the business,” he explained.
Meanwhile, NIMC on Friday released a statement saying it has cleared all outstanding payments owed to the FEPs for the enrollments carried out between 2022 and 2024.
According to the statement issued by the Commission’s Head of Corporate Communications, Kayode Adegoke, the payments were for all enrollments that successfully hit the database and generated the NINs.
Director of Information Technology and Identity Database at NIMC, Engr. Lanre Yusuf, has NIMC is doing a review that would include measures to crack down on extortion by some FEP vendors, as well as efforts to expand NIMC’s operations to all local government areas and wards across the country.
