Senior citizens warn against registration of foreigners as Nigerians

Elderly Nigerians in Calabar have cautioned the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) against registering foreigners who because they have lived in the country for many years and become adapted want to be registered.

They have therefore advised that officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) should be attached to every NIMC registration point.

Chief Samuel Effiom Ayi and Madam Ekanem Asibong expressed this concern when both came to a registration point in Calabar South neighbourhood to register for the issuance of the national identity card.

“We have many non-Nigerians, especially Cameroonians and Equatorial Guineans who have lived on Ambo Street and environs for decades, many without official immigration papers but are moving freely. In their countries they would never allow Nigerians to walk about free let alone get permanent residence. We want to caution that these and other foreigners wishing to be so registered should not be registered. Only Nigerians should be registered,” Effiom said.

Meanwhile, officials of NIMC are presently grappling with the challenges of funds and lack of electricity to power their computer systems as the registration continues.

Power instability particularly has largely affected registration of the identified Nigerians, said an official.

At some of the registration centres, including those at private residences, the officials hire generators and from the N500 they charge for the registration they buy fuel.

One of the officers at one centre said, “We are faced with many challenges, particularly finance and electricity. We charge N500 per every registrant. You can see we have just bought airtime to recharge our data to enable us access information online. We have to buy fuel to power this generator. We have to hire vehicle to convey us and these machines to this centre. NIMC is not funding all these.”