Protests have been sparked by the National Identity Management Commission’s (NIMC) claimed failure to pay two years’ commission to the National Identification Number (NIN) agents in the South-West geopolitical zone.
Mr. Taiwo Odebunmi, the spokesperson for the Agents, told reporters in Ibadan, Oyo State, that their members had experienced extreme adversity.
Odebunmi urged President Bola Tinubu to step in the behalf of more than 120 NIN agents who were purportedly hired by NIMC in South West.
NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (MFB) provided funding for the purchase of enrollment devices and licenses through the AGSMEIS lending plan, he said.
According to his explanation, each NIN agent received a loan of ₦4,109,485.72 in exchange for a monthly commission. He claimed that after NIMC purportedly paid the commissions for April and May of 2021, the commission payments ceased.
According to Odebunmi, each agent was expected to receive $1 for each enrollment. Additionally, once NIMC paid for revalidation, the commission allegedly pulled their license, so he insisted that they revalidate it.
Each agent received a loan of ₦4,109,485.72 with the understanding that the loan would be repaid by NIMC’s monthly commissions, which would be put into our NIRSAL MFB repayment accounts.
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However, the Commission’s payment ceased after the first two months of April–May 2021, when NIMC paid us, and we did not get any money from June–December 2021.
Our members suffered a great deal as a result of this. However, when the moratorium lifted in February 2022, deductions were made for loan repayment based on this backlog, which was paid in March 2022, according to Odebunmi.
Since then, NIMC has been owed commissions on completed enrollments by its members. Since then, NIRSAL MFB has started the GSI Recovery procedure on agents with the help of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which has caused us a lot of problems due to this nonpayment of commission.
Additionally, NIMC revoked our licenses in 2023 after a fraudulent revalidation process. These licenses were revoked despite the fact that our contract is for five years, and they were paid for with this loan.
“We are now requesting that the federal government and its pertinent agencies act quickly to ensure that the $1 commission that is still owed for each enrollment and revalidation of our operation license is paid,” said Odebunmi, cited by Leadership.
