The National Identity Management Commission faced public backlash on Monday after a social media user accused the agency of charging fees in U.S. dollars for National Identification Number data modifications on its portal.<\/p>\n
The user, known as \u201cAkwa Ibom First Son,\u201d posted a screenshot sighted by PUNCH Online purportedly from the NIMC website, showing fees of $20.78 for changes to birth dates, addresses, names, and phone numbers.<\/p>\n
\u201cDear NIMC, can you explain to Nigerians why your website charges Nigerians in dollars?\u201d the user wrote on X (formerly Twitter)<\/p>\n
In response, NIMC explained that the portal does not charge in dollars and attributed the issue to the use of Virtual Private Networks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe use of VPNs can cause the website to detect a different location and currency,\u201d the commission said.<\/p>\n
To resolve the issue, NIMC advised users to turn off their VPNs and try again. If the problem persists, users can reach out to the support team for further assistance.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the NIMC Self-Service Modifications portal enables citizens and legal residents aged 16 and older to request changes to their name, phone number, date of birth, and address.<\/p>\n
Some data fields are non-updatable. The approved fee for a change of date of birth request is N15,000, according to information gathered from its website.<\/p>\n
Public reaction to the NIMC\u2019s explanation was largely negative.<\/p>\n
Another X user, Yasir Jubril, stated, \u201cThere\u2019s clearly foul play here! Regardless of the location, services should be charged in naira. And why is a change of name or address that expensive?\u201d said Yasir Jubril, another X user.<\/p>\n
Other users echoed this sentiment, questioning the technical design of the payment system.<\/p>\n
\u201cNaira cards can be used from anywhere. All their charges should be in local currency, irrespective of location,\u201d commented user John Wick.<\/p>\n
Isa Kabir shared his experience, stating that while initially the portal displayed fees in naira, it later showed fees in U.S. dollars. \u201cI had to send several emails before it was rectified. Instead of working on the site, they are here giving excuses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, NIMC Director General, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, reiterated the commission\u2019s commitment to transparency.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy administration has zero tolerance for corruption.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hereby reiterate my commitment to sanitizing NIMC in conformity with the mandate of Mr. President. Enrolment for the National Identification Number is free of charge in Nigeria,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The National Identity Management Commission faced public backlash on Monday after a social media user accused the agency of charging fees in U.S. dollars for National Identification Number data modifications on its portal. The user, known as \u201cAkwa Ibom First Son,\u201d posted a screenshot sighted by PUNCH Online purportedly from the NIMC website, showing fees […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":38915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38906"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38917,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38906\/revisions\/38917"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}