NIN for foreigners

THE National Identity Card enrollment centres in Maiduguri, Borno State, are reportedly being besieged by Niger Republic, Chad and Cameroon nationals to enrol and obtain the National Identity Numbers (NIN). Some of these foreigners are reportedly trapped in Nigeria as a result of Boko Haram terrorism. Apparently latching onto the loopholes in section 16 of the National Identity Management Act (NIMCA) 2007, all manner of foreigners are being issued with NIN in Borno State. On the surface, and based on the extant law, there is nothing patently untoward about the development: the veritable concern is about the officials’ compliance with the law. Section 16 of NIMCA 2007 actually provides that the following categories of persons are entitled to register and obtain the National Identity Card: citizens of Nigeria, non-citizens of Nigeria who are lawfully and permanently resident in Nigeria, and non-citizens of Nigeria who have been lawfully resident in Nigeria for a period of two years or more.

The provisions regarding the last two categories of people who are entitled to obtain the National Identity Card give a lot of room for manipulations, with grave security implications.

To be sure, the provision that stipulates that it is only legally resident foreigners that can get NIN presupposes that the relevant authorities must have the records of eligible foreign enrollees, if indeed they are lawfully resident in the country. But it is doubtful that anyone is checking the records of the applicants to ascertain their eligibility to enrol for it. A part of the country that is reputed for allegedly allowing foreigners from neighbouring countries to cross the borders to vote during elections is most unlikely to conduct any painstaking investigation on the eligibility of foreigners to enroll for NIN. Also, foreign nationals who are already accustomed to crossing the nation’s borders at will to officially attend political rallies in the country may not be subjected to any rigorous or painstaking eligibility criteria before they are issued with NIN.

It is quite apparent that the ongoing enrolment is an opportunity for many unqualified foreigners to obtain NIN. After all, the likes of Bauchi State governor, Mr. Bala Mohammed, and others have earlier claimed that Fulani people from anywhere in the world can come and stay in Nigeria. Even the Section 16 (2 &3) of the NIMC Act which is currently being abused is objectionable as it makes it rather too easy for foreigners to obtain NIN. Whatever reasons might have informed the provision of section 16 pale into insignificance in the light of the worsening security situation in the country and what is thought to be the contribution of foreign nationals to it.

Even the recent Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC’s) requirement for resident foreigners to link their NIN to their SIM cards just like Nigerian citizens is unnecessary. Can’t the SIM cards obtained by legally resident foreigners with the details of their international passport be tracked if the need arises? And how many terrorists, bandits and kidnappers have even been apprehended by tracking the SIM cards linked to NIN? Has the insecurity situation not escalated since the requirement to link NIN to SIM became compulsory? No serious countries joke with the security of lives and properties of their nationals as the NIMC law portends. The NCC may say that the NIN serves only to identify its holder, and does not confer citizenship on foreigners. However, who challenges the citizenship of foreigners from the neighbouring countries who daily enter through the country’s porous borders in droves?

Will the unbridled issuance of NIN to this category of foreigners not simply legalise their otherwise unauthorised entry and stay in Nigeria? In any case, how many of the foreigners are actually coming forward to enroll for NIN as foreign nationals?

Are the foreigners not simply laying claim to the indigeneship of some localities in the country to hoodwink unsuspecting or compromising officials?

Yes, the security situation in the country, especially the foreign dimension to it, was not as grave as it is today when NIMCA came into force in 2007.

But even at that, the provision of section 16 of the NIMC Act is of suspicious intendment as it is rather too loose and underwhelming to reflect the importance of the NIN for national security. And given the frightening and alarming state of security in the country today, that section of the Act needs urgent rejigging. In the intervening period, however, the government should review the ongoing enrollment of foreigners for NIN in Borno State to ensure that it conforms to the extant law.