The Defence Headquarters on Wednesday warned Nigerians against
approaching unauthorized agencies and individuals for national
identification registration.
It said the National Identity Management Commission remained the only
agency responsible for registration and issuance of the national
identity card.
This is contained in a statement by Rabe Abubakar, Acting Director of Defence Information, in Abuja.
Mr. Abubakar said the military authorities had issued a “red alert”
against the prevailing incidences of unauthorized reproduction of the
national identity card by unscrupulous elements in the society.
He added that unauthorised production and distribution of the cards
could engender “serious security breach in the ongoing
counter-insurgency operation in the North-East”.
According to the statement, the approved national identity card, which is a chip-based card, has over 18 security features.
He explained that some of the features were not visible to naked
eyes, which distinguished the card from any of its kinds and could only
be issued by the NIMC.
“The implication of fake national ID cards in circulation is that
Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East also used similar method of
identification for their members in the past who were nabbed by the
military.
“The general public should guard against patronizing unauthorized
agents to obtain their national identification as there are racketeers
issuing fake cards for monetary and criminal gains,’’ it said.
The statement said the alert would assist the security forces to
contain infiltration of illegal aliens who may acquire the cards to
legalise their migration into the country to support the terrorists.
Mr. Abubakar therefore, appealed to members of the public to report
any attempt by unauthorized persons to issue cards similar to the
national identity cards to the security agencies.
(NAN)
No comments:
Post a Comment