18,000 national identity cards yet to be collected in Delta — NIMC

Over 18,000  identity cards are yet to be collected  by their owners from the office of the National Identity  Management Commission (NIMC) in Delta,  the state Coordinator, Mrs Henrietta Okolo has disclosed.

According to her, over three million persons have been registered in the state with more than  50,000  cards  issued to the state even as she appealed to those who are yet to come forward to collect theirs  at the various centers across the  three senatorial zones to do so without further delay.

Mrs Okolo  said in  an interview during the  celebration of the 4th national day of identity with the theme: “Traditional Institutions as Critical Stakeholders for Citizens’ Mobilisation”  that the essence was targeted at taking registration further to the creeks and rural areas through traditional institutions.

Acknowledging that the registration is the right of all citizens in the  country, Okolo  stated that several registrants have displayed  nonchalant attitude towards collecting their cards  when contacted .

She  however stressed  the importance of the national identity numbers( NIN)  describing as unfortunate, the  rigours people go through during registration.

The State Coordinator frowned at the attitude of some of the commission’s vendors who allegedly extort applicants in the course of registration adding  any vendors found guilty will have their licence withdrawn after investigation.

“If our vendors do not comply with the rules and regulations, we are not only to withdraw their licence, we will prosecute them,” she reiterated.