Mr Loveday Ogbonna, Head, Corporate Communications, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) says registration for the National Identity Number (NIN) is free without any monetary cost.

This is coming amid complaints that some staff of NIMC extort members of the public to register them in the ongoing registration of Nigerians.

Ogbonna, who made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja, said that the commission has never charged anyone for NIN registration.

Some residents in Kubwa, Abuja, had claimed that they were made to pay N200 for logistics before being registered at the ongoing NIMC registration.

But, Ogbonna said that it is not the responsibility of the enrollees to pay money to fuel generators at registration centres.

“The commission absolutely condemns this, it is not right for enrollees to pay money for fuelling of the generators before being captured but people also react based on how urgent they need NIN.

“Our staff would have told them that there was no light which is not under their control; however, you know that electricity is not under our purview just like the internet.

“Therefore, if you come to a place that we don’t have electricity and people on their own volunteer to contribute money to fuel the generator, it is out of their own free will.

“Although we don’t encourage it, because that will lead to corruption, but if the people on their own decide to contribute we cannot stop them.

“All these issues are due to paucity of fund, if there is enough money available for the exercise or steady power supply all these things will not happen,’’ Ogbonna.(NAN)