#how am i paying other subscription services to use them less. like id cry if this went away for real not to be a bitch

[mummer]

uh oh lol

[citizensimpact]

Since 2013 that the new staff have joined the commission, we have been subjected to excessive suffering, which we have endured and had to keep mute. Our problems in this commission are numerous. The problems are hinged on the fact that, since the beginning until few months ago, there was no Union in NIMC and no one to fight for us. Also, there has been nothing to cushion the effect of the very low salary we are being paid. This is because Cooperative societies were banned, likewise the approval to request for loan in the bank.

Apart from all these, the nature of our jobs has given rise to series of health problem we are facing as staff. The Commission is doing nothing about the hazards they put us through daily, even if it means paying us enough to take care of those hazards. People fall sick daily, and keep getting date for surgeries all over the country in our different work stations.

To better explain the health hazards, we wish to itemise it below, for proper understanding.

1a: NIMC is the only commission that does not pay 28 days allowance to fresh employees we have sent requests on several occasions and the management insists on not owing 28days

1b: In the name of creating a bright enrolment center, Bright light from different angles are most times suspended and brought close to our eyes. We spend an average of 8 hours minimum staring at this light and the computer screen. Our retina is constantly damaged and the white light problem gradually sets in. In fact, a medical practitioner once told some of us that many people do not know they are partially blind already. Some older staff jokingly state that none of them are without glasses today. We look into this light all day long, our eyes are destroyed gradually, causing different kinds of eye problems and on the long run could cause cancer.

As some doctors have concluded, if the situation persists, give or take, in a matter of years, our eyes will seize tp function at some point as a result of the exposure.

2: The barcode scanners we use to upload pre-enrolment forms carry laser beams. A perpetual and constant usage of that which would be concentrated on our skin while we hold up the pre enrolment form has been severally said to be bad and will cause cancer over time. The infra red is poisonous.

Also, the usage of the bar code on the pre-enrolment form, reflects into the eyes. This can cause instant partial/ temporary blindness, retina burn and the likes. As research shows, the intensity at which the infra red comes out does not decrease. That is, if I am holding the pre enrolment form in Kaduna, and I move the bar code scanner as far back as Cross River, the beam does not decrease, it goes with the same intensity so, it is pretty much the same.

3: We sit down on the same spot, working for not less than 8 hours everyday. this can cause a permanent back damage, spine damage, cancer, problem for the men in functioning, etc. Many have been complaining of excessive back aches and constant body aches.

4 : Deadly diseases like Hepatitis B can be contacted through body fluid contact. Those we touch, collect form from, who sit near us and sometimes tap on us on the shoulder to get our attention can be giving you a disease that can kill you.

In some centers, we are forced not go on break because we have to enrol. Numerous staff with peptic ulcer and full blown ulcer are littering our offices.

Ordinarily, this work is supposed to be a shift of about 3 hours or 4 maximum. To reduce risks to the eyes, to also guarantee movement to exercise the eyes and legs that have been static during enrolment. In our case, only one person works from 8 to 5 on each system every day. Most times when staff want to go on break, on the orders of the Supervisors, through the State Coordinators, people are told to quickly go and rush their meal and be back in about 5 minutes. Sadly, this is what we go through everyday.

CRIMINALITY:- 1: From our assumption of duty as members of staff, for years now, we have just been promoted instead of 2016, promotion was conducted in 2017 without arrears and no financial implications until Jan 2017. When we started to voice out complaints, we discovered that some older staff have been on the same level for as much as 13 years without promotion, and they keep telling us welcome to the club.

2:- Since we assumed duty for some years ago, our Pensions and Housing funds have not been remitted, yet they keep making deductions for it.

3:- For those who assumed duty in 2013, for no reason, their salaries are reduced every month. they earn so little a salary and o cap it all, many allowances that they are entitled to are not paid, so they earn next to nothing.

Furthermore, we are constantly under pressure to meet a mandate of enrolling a particular amount of Nigerians. We are told that all they want to hear from us are results and not complaints. We are not provided Imprests to carry out our duties. We use our personal internet subscriptions to connect and enrol people, we as staff contribute money to buy fuel in our various centers. When we complain, we are told that others are doing it and producing results so we have no excuse. They have turned us to beggars, we are to tell our applicants to provide fuel if they need national ID card moreover everyone is aware national ID card is free. To crown it all, we are to visit people of high personalities so they can provide resources needed. E.g generating plant, fueling of the generator plus provision of internet subscriptions to help pull their nin, hence, we are indebted to them and have to bend to their ways because they have helped us. This means we must attend to those they refer first, and who knows, they may request the identity of an applicant, where some staff might not be bold enough, nor have moral justification to turn down such a request.

Also, our nursing mothers are made to compulsorily take pregnancy tests before being employed, if they are pregnant, they won’t be employed. The employed females are told they must not be pregnant until after 3 years in the job.

Ordinarily, we are supposed to close 4pm. We are mandated to work an hour over time which makes us close by 5pm. Till date, no over time allowance has been paid to us, other allowances too have been withheld from us. Sources keep telling us that our adjusted salary structure had been approved as far back as 2015, but they have refused to effect it. From surveys from all around the world, our Commission is the least paid amongst others in other countries that do the exact job we do. The National Identity Database is the life wire of the country which is relied upon for almost anything, and the identity and data of a person is as good as the person itself. If the officers are not well paid enough to discourage being enticed by those that might want to pay them to produce one information or the other, it becomes a problem. Not forgetting that the National Identity Database houses the data of all Nigerian citizens from the Number one citizen to the least. It is important to take good care of and pay officers enough to discourage being swayed to compromise or lessen their Integrity.

Like true patriots, we have kept our faith and upheld our integrity. That patience is waning. We are Unhappy, Hurt, Sick and Poor. We need help. We have suffered in silence for so long. We pray our cry is heard this time, and heard for good.

REASONS FOR EXTORTION

However, in numerous centres across the country, NIMC officials have developed the habit of extorting the people, mandating them to pay between N200 and N1,000 for fuel or for lamination, which ordinarily should cost no more than N100. This is caused by the management that refused to fund these centres they kep complaining no funds and the management uses force on the staff with various threatening memos for staff to produce results when centers were not being funded. I could recollect funds are sent quarterly to all the state headquarters and its as little as 150,000naira (One hundred and fifty thousand naira) and you are expected to fund all the local government enrollment centers alongside the state office with that little amount for 4months how do you pay for internet, electricity, fueling, local runnings and other office consumables and still the management wants a 4times enrollment unlike before that we have a 10,000 litres of diesel constantly enrollment was smooth and regular no cases of extortion.

Dozie Chukwu (not real names, to protect him from victimisation), a repentant NIMC official in Anambra State who says, “this is not the kind of livelihood I hoped for,” discusses the practice extensively.

“For a level, Level 8 or 9, that earn N71,000 and 81,000. From that N71,000, he is expected to fund his centre. They don’t give you anything to cushion the effects of the expenses on your budget,” Mr. Chukwu says blandly.

“In the past, we were given N10,000 to N15,000 monthly to run the centres before the advent of Engr Aziz. But for more than a year, if not two, the subventions have stopped. You are supposed to buy fuel for a generator, service it if it gets spoilt, buy paper, buy data to send your work and print it.

“To make things easier, we had to tell the applicants to pay N200 for lamination of the NIN slips; when you’re done, you have some money left — your spoil of war — something to make yourself happy after the stress.

“Then the most annoying part, which I think most people are scared of and will not tell you even if you went round all the centres in Anambra State for example, is that you are expected to remit 30% of whatever you make to the state.

“Now, you collect N200, you laminate the NIN slip; by the time you remit 30% to the centre, then there is nothing to share for the three or four of you at the centre. Therefore, people started increasing the amount of money. That is why you go to some centres, they collect ₦500 while others charge up to N1,000.

“So, because some staff have gotten used to this extra cash, every centre is self-sufficient; everybody is relaxed, nobody is complaining — because at the end of the day you go home with N3,000 or N4,000 in your pocket and you still have money to settle the oga at the top in the state. If you don’t do that, they won’t give you the NIN slip.”

ABUJA PART OF THE EXTORTION SCHEME

When the extortion first started, Mr. Chukwu’s superiors told him the proceeds were used to run the state office; that the state office was no longer getting subventions from Abuja. But even the state offices are now involved in the practice; they make their own money and remit to Abuja.

“The money we’re remitting to the state” has no other use than the “funding of an individual’s pocket,” Mr Chukwu says. It is a practice he has long been fed up with, one he “can’t even admit” to his child that he was once part of.

“Presently, there is a misunderstanding between my colleague and I because I told him we’re stopping this [extortion]; I’m tired. I told him we’re stopping this ‘give me N100 here, give me N200 there’; I’m tired. If you want to effect change, you start from yourself, then you start pushing it forward. When we stopped, he said he would no longer work with me, instead, he would leave the centre,” Mr. Chukwu says, penitence etched in his face.

“If a state submits its report of normal daily registration, I’m not sure Abuja will not be willing to provide any funds because they know that states are extorting applicants. But like I tell most of my colleagues, the day one of them is caught, their superiors will not defend them. That is why we’ve tried to talk to people; let’s stop this extortion. If we don’t have the money to run centres, let’s shut them down.

“But the practice is blossoming because nobody wants to talk. Secondly, no one wants to step out of his/her comfort zone, probably because you have established yourself in a particular centre and you know how much you make in a day. You won’t want to be sent to a new place.

“Personally, I have said it a million and one times: I’m not interested in this kind of money. I want my take home to be something that can sustain me, then I can save up. Most civil servants don’t get the opportunity for this daily extortion, but they receive other allowances that come quarterly or monthly. I have been here for four years, since 2013, and I have never received anything called allowance; I don’t know what it is. I get only my salary and you expect me, as a family man, to survive on that, for that long? It doesn’t work. That is the root of all the problem — no pension, no leave allowance, nothing!”

Asked what he had done to bring these concerns to the notice of the NIMC management, Mr. Chukwu says he is helpless — as are hundreds of other staff who are wary they could be forced to transit from disgruntled employees to ex-employees.

That fear stems from a previous attempt to organise themselves into a union, which was reportedly deviously truncated by NIMC.

Indeed, the management played along, egging them on as they fixed an election date for a union, in conjunction with the Association of Senior Civil Servants, ASSCS. Suddenly, as the election date approached, NIMC struck the shepherd and the sheep were in no time scattered.

“All of a sudden, the whole thing turned upside down,” says Mr. Chukwu regretfully. “You know, we all thought that once the union came, it was the end of most of the anomalies we had been putting up with.

“Suddenly, there were phone calls from Abuja proscribing the election. Before we knew it, the man who was set to emerge union president was transferred out of Anambra to Bayelsa State, without any explanation.

“That was how the agitation for union issue started fading until it finally came to a halt. It became clear to all NIMC staff in the state that if anyone complained, the least punishment would be a transfer out of the state at sudden notice and without relocation allowance.”

MAKING — AND BREAKING — THE LAW

Having paid 30 per cent of his extorted funds to the state — and watched his colleagues do the same, Mr. Chukwu no longer takes the NIMC headquarters seriously when it releases guidelines for operations. Indeed, NIMC outlawed the very act its staff, from the headquarters to state levels, are involved in.

In a document titled: ‘LEGAL AND REGULATORY COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENT FOR EMPLOYEES, CONSULTANTS, LICENSES, AGENTS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS OF THE COMMISSION & THE GENERAL PUBLIC’, the commission prohibits “all staff, consultants, service providers and security personnel and cleaners” from “collecting money and/or obtaining favours’ for the purpose of providing access to the commission, services of enrolment, card collection, activation or for the purpose of granting/obtaining a contract award”. Quoting “Sections 14, 20 and 21 of the ICPC Act, and Section 10 and 12 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act,” NIMC says the punishment for offenders will be dismissal and a seven-year jail term.

However, in at least three internal memos seen by the ICIR, NIMC encourages its staff to collect “material and financial support from their host state governments, political office holders and other prominent personalities,” and pay such monies “to the dedicated NIMC state account and not to the state coordinator’s account or any individual’s account”. The quoted memo was dated September 7 and released by the General Manager, Operations, signed by Florence Oloruntade; the NIMC DG/CEO was copied.

The ‘Legal and Regulatory’ document also says that “heads of departments, regional and state coordinators, local government and special centre supervisors” who engage in “non-disclosure, diversion of financial aid and or material support to the commission from states, local governments and other persons or organisations without approval from the DG/CEO” will be dismissed in line with Section 13 of the Code of Conduct Bureau Act.

The violations of all these provisions are ongoing. For example, at the NIMC centre at Aiyekale in Ibadan, Oyo State, an official, unaware of the presence of the journalist, tells a prospective applicant, who does not have a valid identity card to pay N500.

“Registering normally costs N2,000,” he says. “But because you do not have a valid ID, we will have to generate one for you. That one will cost you N500.”

DEDUCTION WITHOUT PENSION

In another document, titled the ‘NIMC Personnel Policy’, the commission states thus: “To succeed, the system must be secured, have integrity, accessibility, reliability and confidentiality as its core.”

However, in its relationship with staff, it fails to exhibit the afore-listed attributes. One example: NIMC lists pension and leave allowance as one of 20 fringe benefits that its full-time staff are entitled to. But, for at least three years, its staff have received neither.

Despite managing to reportedly scupper the formation of a staff union in Anambra and transferring the potential union president out of the state, NIMC states in its policy document: “In accordance with Nigerian Labour Law, members of staff of the NIMC are free to become members of Trade Unions or may elect not to belong to any Trade Union. Staff members may register and obtain membership in the Union that is appropriate for their role and position at the NIMC.”

Contrary to its claim of “focusing on building a high performing workforce capable of delivering mission for the long term,” NIMC’s offices are anaemic and the conditions of work are triggers for low workforce performance. At the NIMC office at Ibadan North-east, only one of three computers is functioning. One has been moved away from the centre, while the other has been left unattended to in its dysfunctional state. With two of three computers non-functional, it is unsurprising that the air-conditioner is not functioning. Since hot environments impede the smooth functioning of computers, the NIMC officers usually roll up the window blinds. As revealed by pictures taken undercover, only two of the five bulbs in the office are working. Even the generator servicing the office is older than NIMC itself; it’s been in use since 2003!

Now, to the most bizarre of all. NIMC warns its staff against “illegal usage” of the office Internet for “unofficial purposes”. “All internet and email services are provided for professional use only,” it says. “Very limited personal or non-business use is permissible.” Failure to adhere to this warning, it adds, would see the commission “invoke disciplinary measures,” against the culprits.

But the NIMC is only trying to regulate the use of an internet connection that does not exist. So says the enrolment officers who spoke with the ICIR, numbering six in all.

“What internet?” one, based in Enugu State, asks in a derogatory manner. “The connection in question is the VSAT [Very Small Aperture Terminal]. But Internet connectivity with VSAT is so poor that we use resort to our personal phones or dongles to get the job done.”

“We’re the one supplying Internet to NIMC,” adds another, who works in Ogun State. “We’re the one who should be invoking disciplinary measures against NIMC for making us use our personal Internet for official purposes.”

As expected, these inefficiencies, mixed with staff disillusionment, are threatening to derail the targets of the identity card project if proper step is not taken to address this issue, most politicians see this project as a conduit pipe to siphon money.

“Before, if you didn’t meet the security criteria, a centre won’t be set up for you. The lighting must be perfect, there must be an air conditioner or fan to cool the systems. There would be burglary proof structure; you don’t dismantle a system after setting up in a certain way,” Mr. Chukwu recalls.

“But this is not so today. Now, we carry systems in our hands; I’m used to carrying a backpack around with my laptop and keyboard inside. Now, you carry everything on your head; anywhere you see space, even if it lacks the standards, you just perch and use it the way it is.

“Previously, there was something called ‘Source Documents’ which the enrolment officer presents to show the work he has done. But now people register anyhow, anywhere; I think that right now, staff are just doing it for survival. It’s no more about the standards; the job has lost its taste.

“This was not why I signed up for the job in the first place; the quality of the job is not important anymore. I can come here with my system now and just set up. NIMC is not even interested in checking the quality of job again; anything that comes in, they use: wrong fingerprints, wrong NIN and all those stuff.”

Nigeria’s quest for a single, unified database of all its citizens led to the birth of the NIMC Act 2007, which provides for the establishment of the NIMC, empowered to: (i) foster the orderly development of an identity sector in Nigeria; (ii) issue a National Identity Smart Card to every registered person 16 years and above; and (iii) provide a secure means to access the National Identity Database so that an individual can irrefutably assert his/her identity.

Clearly, the first isn’t happening. The identity registration process is in shambles at the majority of the locations where applicants are not being extorted, as admitted by an enrolment officer in Ibadan: “The work environment is very poor; most of our offices don’t look the way a normal office should. Apart from that, we lack chairs for the applicants. People, both aged and young, stand in queues for hours until it is their turn. When the applicants don’t buy fuel for the generator, we can’t work.”

The second function — issuing ID cards to registered persons — isn’t happening as well. Moses Adegboyega, a retired civil servant who registered in Abeokuta in 2014 — three years ago — still hasn’t received his ID card. Okafor Chigozie, a recent graduate of the University of Nigeria, UNN, Nsukka, registered in 2013. Four years on, his ID is not ready. Babawale Olakunle, an alumnus of the University of Ibadan, registered in Ibadan, also in 2013. Like others, he is still awaiting his card. In fact, he says not one ID card has been produced in the whole of Ibadan North-east, where he registered.

“I can confirm to you that no single human being in some of the state offices nation wide has received the ID card from 2013 till date. This is because there is hardly a month when at least one of the five of us didn’t go to their (NIMC) office to complain. Once, when we threatened to foment trouble, other people in the LG begged us, saying no one had been issued a card since 2013.”

SPECIAL CANDIDATES AND SPECIAL CENTRES

While registrants in other parts of Oyo State are in endless wait for their ID cards, a privileged few get theirs — as it usually is with almost every public item in the country. These are the people who register at special centres, such as the University of Ibadan, UI, the University College Hospital, UCH and The Polytechnic, Ibadan.

“I registered in 2014 and I have my ID card already,” says a UI professor who asked not to be named. “They say UI is a special centre. You stand a good chance of getting your card if you register here — same way you won’t experience the electricity problem that dogs registration in other centres.”

In Anambra, the case is not so much about special centres but about ‘special registrants’. Production of cards was halted more than a year ago due to lack of funds, but some persons were not affected.

“The first batch that was produced, the cards were issued for free by MasterCard. And because they were issuing it free, no revenue was coming, so they could not acquire new ones,” Mr. Chukwu explains.

“I know some people who registered in 2013 and 2014, and already have their cards. I have mine, too, but ordinary registrants haven’t got theirs in the last one year — only prominent people.

“I know the governor (Willie Obiano) registered last year, so his card should be ready. His wife registered two years ago; hers should be ready as well. Na normal we-we dem take dey do the cards now.”

While it is true that registrants get their NIN soon after the enrolment, the NIN slip has so far proven an insufficient means of identification.

Abbas Audi, a victim of NIN slip rejection, lodged a complaint with the Facebook account of NIMC, writing on August 23: “Even without the eID Card the NIN slip is widely accepted but why is it that Union Bank in Jalingo (Taraba State) branch still rejects it after the directive given by the apex bank CBN? Pls call them to order because they rejected 1 today 22/8/2017.”

Oke Paul, another complainant, writes on August 19: “First bank PLC reject d NIN slip, pls help us out.”

“It’s 4 years now I did mine in Kano it’s not still ready,” Sadiq Saeed, yet another complainant, wrote to the commission on August 9. “Banks have refused to accept the temporary slip. My first name is Sadiq and surname, Saeed. NIN-19735604837. Tracking ID- S7Y0NYFM80001VA. What’s happening? Can’t I just do a fresh one where other states are collecting theirs in 4 to 6 months?”

TO WHOM LESS IS GIVEN…

When contacted, the communications department of NIMC, said the commission’s challenges are directly linked to inadequate funding.

“Basically, NIMC is an agency of the Federal Government and electricity is a general problem in Nigeria,” says the official, who asked not to be named.

“We are fully dependent on the government for funding. So, our budget from FG is what we work with. Most of our challenges are underlined by funding; that is number one. And our budget is so open for Nigerians to see what NIMC has been getting, and then you can also see what has been allocated to us for electricity and generator.”

He denies the allegation that the NIMC headquarters is a beneficiary of state-level extortion.

“No, that is not true. Even as I’m talking to you right now, anybody who has evidence should bring it forward.

“These things are just allegations. Somebody just told you that; you have not done your own investigation to unravel how the state coordinator gets kickbacks. If you can do that, you will be helping Nigeria too. If you do that investigation on your own and you report to us, we will appreciate it.”

NIMC-Infographics-1Curiously, he admits that some extortion cases had been brought to the notice of the commission.

“There have been one or two cases that we have investigated,” he says. “If we see something like that, we have our own in-house mechanism. We have the special unit at the commission that goes out to investigate all of this, and when the case is beyond us, we hand it over to state security.”

REFRESHMENT MORE IMPORTANT THAN ELECTRICITY

Truly, NIMC has a case for improved funding. When compared with similar biometric-capturing agencies, the gulf in funding is wide. For instance, while the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, which, among others, issues the driver’s licence, got N34.8 billion in 2017, NIMC got N11.6 billion. Whereas FRSC got N30.7 billion in 2016, NIMC got N6.2 billion. While FRSC’s budget over the last seven years is approximately N186 billion, NIMC’s is N78 billion.

Indeed, NIMC cannot be faulted for tying its inefficiency to inadequate funding, but its current spending is questionable.

For example, in 2017, NIMC allocated N12 million to generator fuel. The previous year, the ‘generator fuel’ figure was almost double: N24.7 million. However, the millions of naira did not proportionately trickle down to all the problem centres visited. The special centres were immune from power outage not because NIMC fuelled their generators but because they were sited in locations with their own internal mechanisms for surmounting the electricity challenges. In all, between 2011 and 2017, NIMC has earmarked N311.4 million for fuelling generators!

Make no mistake: refreshment is more important to NIMC than service delivery. In 2017, the commission earmarked N13.5 million for “refreshment”. This is the same year that it separated N12 million for “generator fuel”. Why is the refreshment budget outweighing the fuel budget by a whopping N1.5 million? In all, between 2011 and 2017, NIMC allocated N87.4 million to refreshment!

Elsewhere in its 2017 budget, a massive N17.5 million is for “sitting and honorarium”. Mind you, this figure is the second lowest of the past seven years. In 2011, it was N39.2 million. Between 2011 and 2017, NIMC has spent N183 million on “sitting and honorarium”! Who are the people holding these sittings? And what are the services being rendered by recipients of these honoraria?

FRUSTRATION TEETERING ON THE ‘RED LINE’

Of the hundreds of thousands of disgruntled applicants, many are bombarding NIMC’s Facebook and Twitter accounts with their frustrations. Some of them are going over the edge, sending “hate” messages that perhaps “cross the national red lines.’’

Basu MC writes in early September: “The most stupid commission in de Nigeria space, hate them with [passion], did reg. yrs back bt couldn’t see my card till date.”

Engr Omoaghe writes in August: “I think this NIMC is fake. I did my registration since 19th September, 2013, till now, yet to be released. Poor Management, poor government, poor organization. Fake. (2months ago)

The comments leave no one in doubt that the people are losing it. And that something must be done fast — by the Federal Government and the management of NIMC.

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/245053-investigation-extortion-power-outage-staff-apathy-dog-nigerias-national-identity-card-project.html

NIMC ROT – Competent Staff, Poor Staff Welfare, Poor Funding, No Working Tools Since 2013 that the new staff have joined the commission, we have been subjected to excessive suffering, which we have endured and had to keep mute.