N1,000 NIN charges: NIMC asked to review new regulation

The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has called on the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to review the new regulation and address concerns of passport applicants following new charge of N1,000 for National Identification Number (NIN) integration and verification.

The NIMC had recently introduced a new charge of N1,000 for National Identification Number (NIN) integration and verification for each Nigerian passport applicant, with effect from April 1, 2023.

In a statement by Jumoke Oduwole, Special Adviser to the President, Ease of Doing Business/PEBEC Secretary urged NIMC to review the new regulation through the lens of making it faster and cheaper to access government services.

Oduwole stated that the devised and agreed framework with the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to significantly improve the quality of service, accuracy, and speed of passport services through the verification of NIN as stated by Kayode Adegoke, NIMC’s Head of Corporate Communications, is a welcome development in response to the incessant difficulties Nigerians have experienced in their efforts to verify their NIN during passport registration process.

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She however stated that the additional cost for each applicant has not been well received by stakeholders.

“Further to the provisions of the Business Facilitation (Miscillaneous Provisions) Act 2022 (BFA), which was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on February 8, 2023, codifying Execituve 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 mandated to conduct the necessary verification or certification from relevant MDAs, in respect of the applicant.

“On May 18, 2017, Executive Order 001 (EO1) on Transparency and Efficiency in the Business Environment was issued as the Administration’s first Executive Order to strengthen the implementation of business climate reforms and to deepen collaboration among ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) by instituting a systemic change management process for reforms,” she stated.

She noted that 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.

On March 9, the PEBEC released its 2022 Executive Order 001 (EO1) Compliance Report, in line with its promise to continuously track and keep the business community updated on the compliance with the Executive Order.