NIMC and the discontent within

SIR: National Identity Management Commission [NIMC] was established to own, operate, maintain and manage the National Identity Database in Nigeria; it is charged with assigning a Unique National Identification Number (NIN) and the issuance of General Multi-Purpose Cards (GMPC) to those registered individuals, and to harmonize and integrate existing identification databases in Nigeria. Simply, NIMC is to provide an assured identity system in Nigeria through the concept of enrol once and be identified for life; hence its importance for the overall development, progress and security of the nation.

For this task to be done successfully, workers of the commission ought to be accorded highest and utmost welfare package and better conditions of service. Unfortunately, under the watch of the current Director General, Chris Onyemenam, NIMC is going from bad to worse.

The workers do not have stable monthly salaries; it is deduction upon deduction; half-pay without genuine reason and nobody knows what the deduction is used for.

Recently, Federal Government instructed all its agencies to pay all outstanding money owed by workers, instead of the DG to pay the workers all their outstanding entitlements , he told the general public that his agency was not owing anybody kobo – a lie.

The recruitment into the commission besides flouting Federal Character Commission rule, saw many of the newly appointed staff being given double to triple salary scale above their supposedly grade level. Meanwhile, the existing personnel suffer from non-promotion, non-payment of overtime; in fact, there is discrimination among staff, depending on how and who recommended the individual for employment into the commission.

The network service provision for uploading data is non-existent across majority of rural local governments in the country; where there is, it is either modem services or 2G services that are too slow to perform optimally. In some local government areas, the offices have to rely on the gesture of local government chairmen for data services or other running cost; even some states offices have no constant power supply.

The problems affecting NIMC are endless, as such, if the Buhari administration is very serious about the issue data management in the country, a probe into the recent activities of the commission has become necessary.

NIMC is critical to Nigeria; it should not be left in the hand of those who want to destroy it.

• Oluwafemi Abayomi,

Awolowo Road, Lagos.

culled from: the nation