By Dayo Omoogun
The Kano State Coordinator of the National Identity Management Commission, Muhammadu Auwwalu has disclosed that the act of not registering
with the Commission for the National Identity Number is an offence punishable by three months jail term or a 100,000 fine.
He made the disclosure while speaking to reporters in Kano. While emphasizing the importance of the registration, he warned, that the prosecution of offenders will commence soon.
“In exercising its power of enforcement and compliance, the Commission is empowered by law to demand evidence of compliance, so as to caution a non-compliant person.
“It also has the power to institute criminal proceedings against a non-compliant person through the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation.”
“The agency will impose three months’ imprisonment or N100,000 fine on any Nigerian arrested without being registered.”
Highlighting the agencies challenges, he lamented that only 40,000 Nigerian have so far been captured in its database, stressing that this is due largely to paucity of funds. He added that while the Commission requires N150bn to capture all Nigerians in its database only 7bn was provided for in this year’s budget.