Reps to investigate NIMC over identification number

The decision followed a motion of Urgent Public Importance moved by Hon. Ben Igbakpa (PDP-Delta) during plenary presided over by the Speaker, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, yesterday.

The Federal Government reportedly made NIN, the national identity card, as a requirement for all financial and institutional dealings in the country with millions of Nigerians yet to get it.

The motion is tagged: “The Need for the PTDF to Suspend the National Identity Number as a Precondition for Scholarships, and Related Matters”.

Presenting the motion, Igbakpa said that the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) had announced that applicants for its 2020 scholarship for Masters and PHD degrees, must have a NIN and verify before applying for the scholarship.

The lawmaker alleged that the registration process of NIMC was “laborious and slow nationwide” and attributed it to inadequate facilities and manpower.

“The Director-General of NIMC, Mr Aliyu Azeez, recently admitted in a national daily that they are overwhelmed with work because, whereas they need about 4,000 centres nationwide, they make do with only 1,000 centres at the moment.”

Igbakpa called for the suspension of the NIN as a requirement for prospective applicants for the 2020 PTDF scholarship.

The lawmaker said that PTDF making NIN a prerequisite for its scholarship was undermining efforts at developing the nation’s human capital development.

“The motion is about trying to save our manpower; NIN, as a prerequisite for PTDF scholarship should not be supported and I urged the house to use other (officially) recognised means of identification.”

He also called on other government agencies to suspend requirement of the NIN in any registration or application and urged that the PTDF provide at least one year moratorium for applicants who have not obtained the NIN to do so.

Also speaking, the Deputy Chief Whip, Hon. Nkiruka Onyejiocha, called on the house to investigate NIMC over reasons why just few Nigerians had got the NIN cards.

“We have to go beyond suspending the use of NIN because the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) recently also had to suspend the requirement of NIN for registration of exams.

“We need to investigate why the delay in people not getting the NIN.”

Uzoma Nkem-Abonta (PDP-Abia) urged the committee to interface with the agency and “not suspend the requirement of NIN”.

The Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu, added that “someone is not doing their job and we have to investigate why it is difficult for Nigerians to registered.

“The committee should investigate why it is impossible for Nigerians to be registered and report back to the house in two weeks.”