By Kizito Duru
The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has said that generating NIN through bank verification number (BVN) is invalid until the process is completed at an enrolment centre.
The Commission also urged Nigerians to complete the process of national identity number (NIN) registration.
This is coming weeks after the agency had announced that NIN generated by the BVN could be used as it would be updated at the NIMC enrollment centre.
In a tweet yesterday, NIMC said that the NIN registration must be completed despite NIN generation through BVN, warning that incomplete registration will hinder the user’s access to the NIMC mobile app and render the NIN-SIM integration invalid.
“You must complete your NIN registration even if your BVN has generated a NIN,” the tweet read.
“If your NIN was generated due to the BVN record harmonization with the National Identity Database, you will not have access to the NIMC mobile app and your NIN-SIM integration will be invalid. Visit an enrollment centre to complete NIN registration.”
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had asked all telcos to disconnect the SIM cards of persons who do not integrate their NIN with their phone lines by the end of January.
Meanwhile, residents in Imo have picketed the head office of NIN at Port harcourt Road Owerri, as they try to beat the deadline for NIN registration.
Some of those who spoke to Nigeria Watchdog expressed concern over the difficulty posed by the surging crowd. They called on the NIMC to extend the time frame to enable those who may not meet up with the January deadline partake in the exercise.
