How Officials collected Bribe from Nigerians to Modify Data Following NIMC Website Frustrations

How Officials collected Bribe from Nigerians to Modify Data Following NIMC Website Frustrations

 

Nigerians have expressed growing frustration over their inability to access the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) website to modify their data and print National Identity Number (NIN) slips. As a result, many have prioritised paying NIMC officials across the country to correct their data rather than relying on the website.

Pemisire Agbato, a student of the Federal University of Oye Ekiti, told FIJ he paid N30,000 to NIMC staff at Fadeyi in Lagos in March to correct his year of birth because he did not have the patience to try the NIMC website.

Agbato said he needed his actual birth year to be reflected on his NIN before applying for an international passport in April and thus had to rely on NIMC officials to get it done for him.

 

“The NIMC official I paid assured me that, within some days, the new year of birth would reflect. So, I paid him. And within some days, it reflected. It has remained that way ever since,” Agbato told the press.

On X, many Nigerians shared how the frequent downtime and functionality issues on NIMC’s self-service website tire them out. These complaints also extend to the NIMC mobile app.

An X user said the NIMC app was “useless”, citing the Print NIN section because it barely functions.

“The height of incompetence and cluelessness is NIMC linking the NIN verification website with their app and portal, but still cannot ensure that the app and portal are constantly online and efficient. As if life in the country isn’t hard enough, they’ve added to it,” one X user wrote in January.

 

@Sir_rahh, another X user, said he had been trying to print his improved NIN slip on the NIMC website and mobile app but to no avail.

As a result of these complaints, many have resorted to paying NIMC officials at several locations, although NIMC keeps saying its services are free.

In response to a NIMC post on February 17, Paul Alosulo, an X user, told NIMC it cost Nigerians N5,000 to get their NIN. Although Nigerians were not pleased with it, they still paid.

This is not new. In August, Oluwapelumi Shemuel, an X user, said that he had been trying to change his date of birth for a long time but was unsuccessful.

He said NIMC agents assured him it would be corrected in a few weeks if he paid them N35,000.

 

“I’ve been fighting for a change in my date of birth for over two years, both on the NIMC app and website and in local centres, despite the fact that my DOB on my BVN is correct. NIMC agents have asked for N35k and said it will take a few weeks to process,” Shemuel said.

It was this same assurance that led student Ayanfejesu Tobi to pay a NIMC agent N15,000 at Yaba College of Technology to correct his name in September.

Tobi said he needed an urgent correction when he paid, and the agent assured him the new name would be reflected within a week. It wasn’t.

“I waited for four months before the new name reflected, so I couldn’t use it for the registration I needed. Now, I want to register for JAMB, but it’s not working. I don’t know what to do,” Tobi told the press.

The press emailed NIMC on the various issues in this report on January 23. NIMC hadn’t responded to press inquiries at press time.

This report was produced under the DPI Africa Journalism Fellowship Programme of the Media Foundation for West Africa and Co-Develop.

 

FIJ