TheCable

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) says it has not authorised the sale of National Identity Number (NIN) enrolment form.

The agency raised the alarm in a disclaimer on Monday, signed by Aliyu Aziz, director-general of NIMC.

NIMC said some “unscrupulous persons” are parading themselves as agents of NIMC to extort money from members of the public.

“The attention of Management of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has been drawn to the activities of certain unscrupulous persons parading themselves as agents and consultants of the NIMC and claims to having the capacity to operate and facilitates the engagement of companies/agents under the ongoing National Identification Number (NIN} Enrolment Project,” NIMC said.

“These unscrupulous persons are engaging innocent members of the public and businesses with the objective of extorting money and purportedly promising to facilitate a sub-licensing arrangement between Enrolment Agents approved by the NIMC under the said Enrolment Project and other persons seeking to participate in the project.”

The agency said it has not engaged any person, company or organisation to engage in the ongoing NIN enrolment project under any guise, adding that the NIN enrolment is free and not for sale.

“The NIMC HAS NOT engaged any person, company or organization to act as it’s consultant or agent under any guise or in any manner whatsoever, for the purpose of facilitating any purported collaboration for the implementation of the ongoing NIN Enrolment Project,” the agency said.

“The NIMC HAS NOT permitted the sale, transfer, outsourcing or sublicensing of the Enrolment license granted to the companies published in the newspapers and on its website.

“The NIMC HAS NOT authorised the sale of enrolment forms. Enrolment forms are free.”

However, the agency had authorized Nigerian telecommunications companies to engage in the NIN registration exercise in their retail outlets across the country.

The deadline for NIN-SIM linkage remains February 9, 2021.