Residents appeal for more NIN Registration Centres in Calabar
Some residents of Calabar, in Cross River on Thursday appealed to the Federal Government to create more National Identity Card registration centres in the state.
The residents who were seen in large numbers at the office of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) office in Calabar made the call in interviews with the Newsmen.
It will be recalled that the NIMC headquarters in Cross River was one of the facilities vandalised during the #EndSARS protest that was hijacked by hoodlums on Oct. 23 and 24 2020.
One of the applicants at the NIMC, headquarters, Mr Otu Keyiye, said he came to the office to be registered, but found the gate locked with people outside without any explanation.
Keyiye who is a student, told newsmen that since schools would soon be resuming, there may be no time to complete the registration.
Another applicant, Mrs Felicia Kalu said she started the process of her registration close to 10 years ago, but has not been able to get her card or NIN.
“I came here today because of the whole talk of blocking of unregistered lines; I don’t want my line to be blocked, so I have to ensure that I complete the registration.
“Now, the centres are not much and today, they are not registering, I feel very bad; I want the government to help us create more centres for more people to be captured,” she pleaded.
The newsmen visited the NIN Registration Centre at the University of Calabar where it was observed that the registration process exercise was on hold.
One of the applicants, Mr Donald Etuk who expressed sadness over the whole process, told Newsmen that it was his fourth day of trying to register.
“I was here yesterday with many other people to start the registration process, only for me to get here today and they are not working.
“Most of the people who have been coming here to register have android phones and are computer literate,
“Considering the pandemic, the portal should be open or an application provided for people to download and register themselves.
Mr. Hilary Eke’s concern was, however, on the issue of requesting for the Bank Verification Number (BVN) of applicants as a prerequisite for the NIN registration.
“BVN is a very personal number, it should not be requested to register for NIN, because the NIMC officials can be careless and a fraudster picks the form and defraud applicants of their hard earned money.
He added that the time for the registration should be extended and more centres created.
It was recalled that the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr Ali Pantami, had earlier declared that Telecommunication Operators must require all their subscribers to provide valid NIN to update SIM registration records, commencing from Dec. 16.
