The House of Representatives has cautioned against the registration of aliens as Nigerians in the ongoing National Identity Number (NIN) registration by the National Identity Management Commission.
The House also asked NIMC to “exercise due diligence” by ensuring that foreigners resident in Nigeria were not registered as Nigerians but should be duly recorded as foreigners.
In a resolution passed by the House on Wednesday, lawmakers urged NIMC to conduct background security checks on persons who presented themselves for registration to establish their true identity.
The resolution was sequel to a motion moved by the Chairman, House Committee on Public Petitions, Mr. Uzo Azubike, who raised the alarm that foreigners could easily claim to be Nigerians by deceiving NIMC registration officials.
The lawmaker, who cited the Federal Capital Territory as an example, pointed out that people simply presented themselves for registration and claimed to be indigenes of any local government or state outside the FCT.
According to him, NIMC personnel have no way of confirming the true identity of the registrants.
Though NIMC has a mandate to develop a database of Nigerians and foreigners resident in the country, Azubike noted that caution must be applied to prevent foreigners from being registered as Nigerians.
Part of the motion read, “The House notes that the National Identity Management Commission is the body charged with the responsibility of keeping the National Identity Database where records of Nigerian citizens and foreigners resident in Nigeria are kept.
“Aware that there is an ongoing NIMC registration/enrolment of Nigerian citizens and foreign residence alike across the country, which would culminate in the issuance of new National Identification Number.
“Further aware that in the ongoing enrolment exercise in some centres in Abuja, some people with doubtful origin as Nigerians numbering more than 1,000 claim origin from any one native Community outside the FCT and are enrolled as such, without further identification or verification.
“Concerned that given the current security situation in the country andthe presence of illegal immigrants assisted by our porous borders, the ongoing NIMC registration/enrolment is conducted in such a manner that there are no security measures put in place to ensure that foreignersin Nigeria are not registered as Nigerians.
“Worried that without due diligence and adequate security measures, the implication of registering immigrants as Nigerians are far-reaching as illegal immigrants who may be terrorist would be enrolled as Nigerians”.
