National Identity Management Commission: How Long Shall I Wait?
I registered for my National Identity Card on the 6th of August 2013 with National Identification Number (NIN): 66732969424 issued by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) at the Lagos Head Office of NIMC, opposite Shoprite, Ikeja, Lagos. It is so annoying that three years after my initial registration, my card has not been produced by the commission despite repeated visits to their Head Office to enquire about the card. I was told that it has not been printed and that they will have to wait for the Abuja office till further notice as they have no idea when it will be printed. The most annoying part of the whole saga is that I am not eligible to re-register as I was told that it will amount to a criminal offence. So I was advised to wait till eternity until the cards are produced.
My sibling equally registered for the National Identity Card with NIN number: 83988752709 in 2013. Just like me, it has been stories all the way. Nobody seems to be able to offer any cogent / official / acceptable reason(s) why the cards that we applied for in 2013 are not yet ready as at May 2016. Even the official tracking site of the Commission didn't return any meaningful search when we enquire about the where about of our cards.
It is so funny that most of those that registered for the card in 2015 have collected their cards while those that just registered in 2016 were told to check back in two weeks for their cards. I took it upon myself to send a mail to the e-mail address provided on our slip while also attaching the scanned copy of my slip to the mail, my mail was never acknowledged.
To this end, will it be safe for me to conclude that the only offence I committed was that I registered for my national identity card too early? Or I am just a victim of official carelessness and lackadaisical attitude of the commission? How long shall I wait further to collect my national identity card that I registered for in 2013?
Written by Oyede Saheed.
[email protected]
08060210424.