Rahma Ahmed
By Ahmed Rahma
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has warned Nigerians against the sale and purchase of their National Identity Number (NIN).
The commission warned in a statement on Thursday, January 7, 2021, that some fraudulent individuals are cashing in on the ongoing exercise to induce enrollees to sell their NIN.
The anti-graft agency spokesman, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, noted in the statement that the buyers of the numbers were also trading with persons “whose motives are anything but noble.”
He said, “The EFCC wishes to alert Nigerians that it is not only illegal to sell their NIN, but they also stand the risk of vicarious liability for any act of criminality linked to their NIN.
“In other words, they risk arrest and prosecution for any act of criminality linked to their NIN whether or not they are directly responsible for such crimes.”
The commission warned members of the public against selling their NIN and admonished them to report anyone seeking to buy the facility to the nearest office of the EFCC or other law enforcement agencies.
Millions of Nigerians are desperate to acquire their NIN before the February 9 deadline set by the government last year.
The federal government had on Tuesday, December 15, 2020, had given mobile phone subscribers till December 30, 2020, for the linking of their NINs to their lines. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), which gave their order, had said failure to adhere to it would attract disconnection of the SIM cards from the network.
This policy caused many to rush to the offices of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) across the country to obtain the unique number.
After calls from different quarters, the federal government extended the deadline for the exercise, but the offices of NIMC have continued to be filled with Nigerians seeking the NIN.
