Africa-Press – Nigeria. As the ongoing struggle by some Nigerians to get their National Identity Number (NIN) continues, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has warned against selling it.
There has been an influx of Nigerians to offices of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) across the country in efforts to obtain their NIN.
But the EFCC, in a statement by its Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren on Thursday, said it had come to the commission’s knowledge that “some unscrupulous persons are cashing in on the exercise to induce enrollees to sell their NIN for a fee.”
The EFCC added, “The buyers of the numbers are also trading with them to persons whose motives are anything but noble.”
The commission said it was alerting Nigerians to know that it was not only illegal for them to sell their NIN but that they stand the risk of vicarious liability for any act of criminality linked to their NIN.
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“In other words, they risk arrest and prosecution for any act of criminality linked to their NIN whether or not they are directly responsible for such crimes.
“The Commission warns members of the public against selling their NIN and to report anyone seeking to buy their NIN, to the nearest office of the EFCC or other law enforcement agencies,” the EFCC said.
By Ebere Ndukwu …
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