Whereas the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has urged the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to address charges introduced for National Identification Number (NIN) integration and verification by the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) at its Passport Offices, an anti-corruption crusader, Barr. Ken Aduda has described the N1,000 verification fee as fraudulent.
In an interview, he said “Charging Nigerians extra amount for mere verification process is milking Nigerians and adding more to their pains by the same government that introduced NIN”
According to him, “We were cajoled into believing, ab-initio that with NIN, criminals including terrorists, bandits and kidnappers will be tracked and easily arrested, but up till now, we have not heard or seen any of such criminal acts that the perpetrators’ were arrested via the use of NIN.
He added that “Government should not take Nigerians for granted and introduce fees that are laughable in its entirety.
Aside the stand of the anti-corruption crusader, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, PEBEC Secretary/Special Adviser to the President, Ease of Doing Business, in a statement, had argued that the new fee this would not enable passport applicants get faster and cheaper access to government services.
It would be recalled that NIMC introduced a new charge of N1, 000 for NIN integration and verification for each Nigerian passport applicant, with effect from April 1.
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.
