The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) on Thursday warned touts and other individuals using the ongoing enrolment for the National Identification Number (NIN) to extort applicants to desist from the fact or risk seven years imprisonment.
The commission, in a notice posted on its social media handles, said the NIN enrollment is free.
NIMC also encouraged Nigerians to report cases of extortion for onward prosecution.
The notice read: “The punishment for extortion if convicted is seven years imprisonment as stipulated in sections 14, 20, & 21, of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission Act and Sections 10 & 12 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.”
Several applicants had accused some staff of NIMC and some third-party agents of extortion during NIN enrollment.
In some part of Lagos and Ogun States, the applicants were charged between N3,000 and N5,000 during the exercise.
The Federal Government had early this month ordered mobile telecommunications operators to deactivate telephone lines of subscribers who failed to link their phones to their NINs after December 30.
The exercise was later extended by three weeks after the House of Representatives intervened in the matter.
The NIMC had since listed several facilities across the country for the NIN enrollment.
