UTME candidates accuse NIMC officials of extortion as Nigerians decry slow process

Candidates for this year’s University Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) have berated staff of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) in Alausa, Ikeja, alleging extortions over National Identification Number (NIN) registration and printing of slips.

Students who spoke with The Guardian on Tuesday said in a bid to beat the March 26 deadline for UTME registration, some of them were left with no choice but to allegedly tip officials at NIMC Alausa office of between N3, 000 and N7, 000, for NIN revalidation, reprinting of slips or get past the queue.

The Guardian saw an official of NIMC, dressed in black with his identity card turned over, helping students and parents to jump queue after allegedly collecting some cash.

A parent, Abosede Abdulrahman (not her real name) said she paid N3, 000 to the staff to facilitate NIN for her child.

“I was here when a man gave money to one of the officials who took him inside. He was trying to be discreet, but I heard him asking for his details. Is it supposed to be like that, even when some of us have been here as early as 6:00 am?”

Another student said: “I offered one of the officials at the verification point N2, 000 to prevent me from coming back another day and to make him happy. Money makes people happy.”

Speaking with The Guardian on how staff extorts students and adults for reprinting of slips, a student, Segun Adegboyega, said: “I misplaced my slip and I have been coming here for a week to reprint it. Today (Wednesday) I got here at 6:00 am to pick a number. If you give any of the officials’ money, they will speed things up. There was one of my friends that just walked straight to one of them and he was attended to, but I don’t know how much he gave him.”

Some of the students and parents lamented that officials of NIMC constantly complained of a network problem, thus, many ended up returning home after the close of work without achieving anything.

Mr. Emmanuel Onuoha, who had tried three times to get his NIN validated, said the system makes it difficult for Nigerians and needs overhauling.

The students called on the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, to intervene and save them from undue hardship.