TheCable

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) says it will clear outstanding payments owed to Front End Partners (FEPs) within the first quarter of 2024.

Front-End Partners is one of the firms contracted for enrollment of eligible citizens for the national identity number (NIN) scheme.

On October 2023, the firm lamented how it was owed for 22 months in violation of contract terms.

In a statement on Tuesday, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, the new director-general of the commission, expressed her sympathy with FEPs.

Coker-Odusote said the previous management could not clear the outstanding debt due to lack of funds.

She assured that payment would be made to the firm in the first quarter of the year.

“The National Identity Management Commission, under my leadership has conducted a revalidation exercise to review the outstanding payments which the new management inherited with a view to offsetting the debt after going through due audit process to validate the claims made by the FEPs,” Coker-Odusote said.

“In the process, we found out that some of the invoices submitted by the FEPs did not tally with the enrolment figures shown on the database thus prompting the revalidation exercise to confirm the true and accurate enrolment information.

“Notwithstanding, we are wrapping up the audit process, and the activation of the FEPs will be done according to the outcome of the validation exercise.

“We sympathise with our partners over the delay and appeal for understanding especially as the new NIMC management is just a few months in the saddle and had been working on resolving all inherited debts.

“Unfortunately, the previous management could not clear the outstanding dues because of lack of funds but we are working hard to source for the funds to clear the debt.

“I therefore use the opportunity to reiterate that the revalidation exercise was aimed at sanitizing the system as well as ensuring efficient and effective enrolment processes in line with international best practices of securing citizens’ data.”