By Nabob Ogbonna, Abakaliki
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) operating in Ebonyi State and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) have reached a consensus to collectively drive mass enrollment of residents in the state to obtain their National Identification Number (NIN).
The accord was reached yesterday when Dr. Kelechi Okezie, Founder of Neighborhood Environmental Watch (NEW), led members of various Civil Society Organizations on a visit to the office of the National Identity Management Commission in Ebonyi State.
According to Okezie, “The purpose of this visit is to rub minds and understand your areas of challenges, and how Civil Society Organizations can come in to assist in the enrollment of residents into the national NIN database.
“We are concerned because reports reaching us indicate that Ebonyi is second from the bottom on the National Identification Number registration table.
“Today, even in the political space, politicians now request their supporters to present their NIN. It is now widely used, and we are worried that no Ebonyi indigene should be disenfranchised due to lack of enrollment.
“So we want to understand your challenges and identify areas where we can partner with you to mitigate some of these issues, especially cases involving illegal payments for registration.
“This development is not good for the state. Ebonyi is known for coming first in the South-East and beyond, but in this case, the state is ranked second from the bottom on the NIN enrollment table,” he stated.
Responding, the State Coordinator of NIMC, Mr. Iwuchukwu Okeke, identified inadequate facilities and shortage of NIN registration agents as major challenges responsible for the decline.
“As we speak, we do not have enough laptops to register applicants, although laptops are no longer being deployed for the process.
“The biometric registration device is handy and portable. It is mostly used by field agents to register applicants in remote locations and upload the data once there is network connectivity. Unfortunately, we do not have enough of such devices here.
“Another issue is that registration is free, but some agents who are not commissioned by NIMC ; collect money from applicants. However, we are using this opportunity to appeal to the state governor to intervene and provide more support,” he said.