Is It A Curse To Be A Nigerian?
I am a Nigerian citizen and legal practitioner of 11, Lodge Street, Oke Ado, Ibadan, Oyo State.
It is my desire to bring to your attention the problems Nigerians are facing with the registration for the National Identity Card with my personal experience.
Sometime in 2021, I approached the Orita Challenge, Ibadan, Oyo State office of NIN with a view to get my name registered. I met several people and when I discovered that there was no orderliness in the arrangement, I approached one of the enrolment centres licensed to assist the government (I believe) to make it seamless.
I was fortunate not to have paid a dime for the exercise, but I could not get the slip validated till date and several attempts to get it done at the state office of NIN proved abortive.
Some of these centres, even the one in the local government, collect money to get people enrolled despite the inscriptions in their offices indicating that registration is free. The NIN office located at Ibadan South West Local Government Town Planning Way, Ring Road, Ibadan, collected N1,000 per candidate. I paid the N1,000 requested to get me registered, and later had to collect my money when I informed them that I had registered before but that the number had not been synchronised and a valid NIN issued to me hence my desire to get it done at a cost if it could be done.
I was later directed from the local government registration centre to the NIN Oyo State office at Orita Challenge, Ibadan and the officer informed me that I have to start a new process which may not commence on the said date.
My son had a similar experience having registered at the Glo office, Challenge, Ibadan, Oyo State. After several visits to the place, he was given a temporary slip but all attempts made by him to use the number for the registration of ongoing Joint Admission and Matriculation Examination proved abortive as he was informed that his NIN number had not been validated.
I followed him to the NIN office twice before the closure of Jamb registration and informed the officers that except the number is validated my son will not be able to register for the exercise, we were asked to go and wait for the validation.
It may interest you to know sir that till date the number has not been validated and my son was deprived from taken part in the examination due to no fault of his. The above and many more informed my question; is it a curse to be a Nigerian?
The above ineptitude of government officials who are less concerned about the plight of average Nigerians made me to write this letter with a view that those that are responsible for this act will be called to order.
Kola Fatoye, Ibadan
