The Director-General of National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, Engr. Aliyu Aziz has called on Nigerians and legal residents in the country to enroll in the National Identity Database for their National Identity Number (NIN) to forestall embarrassment.

The Director-General said NIN was a valid and verifiable means of identification used to link all records about an individual in the database.

According to Aziz “It is also used to establish or verify someone’s identity as specified in Section 27 of the NIMC Act.’’

The director-general advised applicants to visit any NIMC office nearest to them to enroll and obtain their NIN. He also said that “upon registration, every individual will be issued two slips; a transaction slip and a second slip after two hours which is the NIN slip.’’

According to him, NIMC has over 930 registration centers nationwide in all state capitals, local government secretariats and over 200 special centers located in places like hospitals, banks and ministries. “This simply means that there is an enrolment center close by that every individual can get registered. “Nigerians and legal residents are hereby encouraged to enroll for their NIN before the mandatory use of NIN is enforced,’’ he said. Aziz cautioned against double registration as an attempt to register twice was a criminal offence.