PEBEC kicks, as NIMC introduces N1000 verification charge on NIN

Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has expressed reservations over the introduction of N1000 fee for National Identification Number (NIN) integration and verification, as announced by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

NIMC had, Monday, said it is introducing a N1000 fee as charge on Nigerians for integration and verification of the National Identity Number process.

According to NIMC, the new fee will come into effect from April 1, this year.

NIMC spokesman, Kayode Adegoke, who made the disclosure in a statement on Monday, said the new fee.

“The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC); wishes to inform the general public that it has devised and; agreed on a framework with the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to; significantly improve the quality of service, accuracy, and speed of passport services through the timely; verification of the National Identification Number (NIN.

“This new arrangement is in furtherance of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy’s directive to streamline passport application, renewal, and issuance processes.

“Consequently, a NIN Verification fee would be charged for each Nigerian passport application for this service. The NIN service, fees, and the new NIS process will go live on 1st April 2023,” NIMC said.

According to Adegoke, in Nigeria, the applicable NIN verification fee would be N1,000, in African countries $5 (or its equivalent in other currencies), and in other countries would be $15 (or its equivalent in other countries).

According to NIMC, NIN issued to Nigerians increased by 1.5 million in February, as the figure rose from 95 million in January to 96.5 million. In the data, 54.6 million males (56.5 percent) and; 41.9 million females (43.5 percent) enrolled.

The highest enrollment figure of over 10.63 million was recorded in Lagos State. Kano followed with 8.4 million, Kaduna 5.7 million, Ogun 4.1 million, Oyo with 3.8 million and Abuja 3.3 million.

Others are; Katsina 3.3 million, Rivers 2.9 million, Bauchi 2.6 million, and Delta 2.58 million. The 10 states at the bottom of the pack are; Kogi 1.67 million, Akwa Ibom 1.65 million, Imo 1.62 million, Enugu 1.55 million, and Yobe 1.46 million.

The rest include; Taraba 1.42 million, Cross River 1.10 million, Ekiti 990,463, Ebonyi 774,263 and Bayelsa 611,229. NIMC said diaspora issuance is; 366,164 comprising 156,651 females and 209,513 males.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has urged the NIMC to address charges introduced for NIN integration and verification.

PEBEC Secretary/Special Adviser to the President, Ease of Doing Business, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, in a statement said this would enable passport applicants get faster and cheaper access to government services.

Oduwole while commending the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) for significantly improving the quality of service, accuracy, and speed of passport services through NIN verification, said the Immigration agency’s move was in response to the incessant difficulties Nigerians experienced in verifying their NIN during passport registration process.

She, however, noted that the additional cost for each applicant’s passport initiated by NIMC was not well received by stakeholders.

”Furtherance to the provisions of the Business Facilitation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022 (BFA), which was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on February 8.

”Codifying Executive Order 001 on transparency and efficiency of public service delivery, for the purposes of the “One Government” directive, where an applicant requires service from a Ministry, Department or Agency (MDA).

”The MDA is however mandated to conduct the necessary verification or certification from relevant MDAs, in respect of the applicant,” Oduwole said.

On May 18, 2017, Executive Order 001 (EO1) on Transparency and efficiency was issued to strengthen the implementation of business climate reforms.

It was meant to also deepen collaboration among MDAs by instituting a systemic change management process for reforms.

EO1 mandates MDAs to submit monthly reports to the PEBEC Secretariat, the offices of the Head of Service (HOS) of the Federation, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), and SERVICOM.

On March 9, PEBEC released its 2022 Executive Order 001 (EO1) Compliance Report, in line with its promise to continuously track and keep the business community updated on the compliance with the Executive Order.

In the last six years, the council has consistently published an EO1 Compliance Report, which captures a periodic empirical analysis of the monthly reports received from MDAs.

The PEBEC, chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, was established in July 2016 by Buhari to remove critical bottlenecks and bureaucratic constraints to doing business in Nigeria.