THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
Since several agencies of government have made registration for the National Identification Number (NIN) mandatory, the issue has become a source of concern to Nigerians including those in the diaspora. Last week, the Nigerian Communication Commission ordered telecommunications companies to suspend mobile phone SIM cards that are not linked to NIN.
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the chairman of the Nigerians In Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), has advised Nigerians abroad to visit the website of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to enable them to register for the National Identity Number.
She issued the advice on Monday in a press statement.
The NIDCOM boss said that the details of the agents who are accredited to register Nigerians for NIN can be found on the website.
“Nigerians abroad should visit NIMC’s website http://nimc.gov.ng for details of their agents accredited to register Nigerians abroad all over the world,” she tweeted.
Click HERE for the list of Diaspora Enrolment and Registration Centres around the world.
Her statement comes days after the NCC gave the telecom companies a duration of two weeks before implementing the suspension on SIM cards whose owners fail to provide NIN. The deadline has meanwhile been extended for 6 weeks following the criticism of the new policy.
The deadline was extended on Monday after a meeting chaired by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami, and attended by major stakeholders in the telecommunications sector.
The agreement reached gave “Three (3) weeks extension for subscribers with NIN from 30th December, 2020 to 19th January, 2021; and Six (6) weeks extension for subscribers without NIN from 30th December, 2020 to 9th February, 2021.”
The NIN registration exercise, being carried out in collaboration with private data management companies, enrols Nigerians, including those living in the diaspora, in the country’s National Identity Database. A registered person is issued a National Identification Number (NIN), a unique set of eleven-digit number.
The enrolment centres in Germany are
Embassy of Nigeria, Neue Jakobstraße 4, 10179 Berlin
Website: https://www.idcard.ng/
and
Frankfurt VFS Global office, Gutleutstraße 80, 60329 Frankfurt am Main
Website: https://dantatauniversal.com
.
Abeeb Alawiye
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