The National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, has decried the poor level of National Identification Number, NIN, registration in Bayelsa State.
This was disclosed by the State Director of NIMC, Stephen Inokoba, over the weekend.
The Director had visited the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, in Yenagoa.
Inokoba used the occasion of the visit to inform the Deputy Governor of the low level registration by residents of the State in the identification exercise.
The Director stated that the Commission was surprised that less than one million persons have registered on the NIMC database since the exercise started in 2023.
Inokoba, however, attributed the poor registration to people’s apathy and likely ignorance.
He added that the NIMC had closed down some centres in the eight Local Government Areas of the State. This is as a result of the poor response from the people.
Inokoba, therefore, appealed to the State Government to help in the exercise.
In his response, the Deputy Governor, Ewhrudjakpo assured that the State Government would partner with NIMC. He assured that the Government would encourage the Commission by creating more NIN registration centres in all the Council Areas of the State.
Ewhrudjakpo described as unfair and unacceptable, the closure of several NIN registration centres across the State. He noted that Bayelsa is the only State with less than one million people registered so far on the NIMC database.
The Deputy Governor, however, debunked the notion that Bayelsa was the smallest State in the country. He pointed that the landmass and natural endowments of the State had strategically positioned it as a big State.
“We salute and appreciate your good sense of patriotism and responsibility towards the people of Bayelsa so that they are not left out. Thank you for the commitment you have shown.
“Bayelsa deserves a better deal. We are ready to collaborate with you. By next week, I will meet with the Local Government Chairmen and their RDA counterparts.
“We are going to spare no effort to ensure that we change the erroneous impression that Bayelsa is a small state,” he said.
Source: NAN
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