The National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, and banks are trading blames over the frustrating experiences of Nigerians with the National Identity Number, NIN, modification process.

Bank customers who spoke to Vanguard about the difficulties they experienced in consummating banking transactions said that the modifications made to names, age, and gender are not reflected on their bank’s record and sometimes are even repeated with additional errors on the NIMC portal.

While the banks blamed NIMC for the failure, the Commission, however, said the banks were still working with the old NIMC’s portal, adding that its verification and authentication system is working perfectly.

Vanguard investigations showed that mostly affected by the NIN modification challenge are married women who changed their maiden names but experienced frustration in their bid to do modifications on their names, date of birth, etc. through the NIMC Self-service NIN modifications portal.

Those who spoke to the Vanguard in Uvwie Local Government Area, Delta State, said when they visited their banks to effect the modifications on their accounts they were told that NIMC’s portal was still showing their old profiles, meaning the modification was not effected or completed on the portal.

When Vanguard visited the NIMC, office at the Uvwie local government Secretariat, a staff of the Commission, explained, “The banks are still working with the old NIMC’S portal; they should update as the Nigerian Immigration Service did.”

He confirmed that NIMC had been getting complaints from those who did modifications on their data that their profiles had not been modified in the banks’ server.

He said to assure those who did the self-modifications that it was successful they asked them to click their new profile on the Nigerian Immigration portal to see, adding that when they did it showed their updated profiles.

“The banks should go for the updated server to save their customers the stress and frustration they are going through”, he said.

Similarly, when contacted, the Director, Corporate Affairs of NIMC, Kayode Adegoke, said: “The NIMC verification and authentication system is working optimally. We have no issue with our verification service. If there is any issue on verification, it can be escalated to us, and we will resolve them immediately’’.

Some Nigerians affected who spoke to Vanguard said they were going through severe frustrations with their money trapped in the banks.

In Lagos one of the affected bank customers identifying herself as Mrs Amaka, said she did the NIMC Self-service NIN modifications on her name since September this year but on the NIMC’s profile, the old name was still showing even though the modification has been updated on the digital NIN slip given to her.

She stated: “I still think NIMC shares in the problem. They don’t complete the modifications immediately so what you see in your profile is the old information. ‘‘It is not enough for NIMC to just take the changes filed. They should also complete the process. I understand they take time to complete it”.

One other affected bank customer resident in Warri who also spoke to the Vanguard said she had been shuttling between the NIMC office at the Uvwie Local Government Secretariat and the Guaranty Trust Bank close to the Refinery road junction over the issue in the last two months.

She said, “I saw that my modification has been updated on the Immigration’s portal but at the bank, the problem was still there. Also on the NIMC portal, you still find my old profile. It means the NIMC has yet to complete the job. The Commission should perfect its end of the job”.

Business centres around the Uvwie Council secretariat that offer NIN services also recounted their experience to the Vanguard on the issue.

One of them said a lady who was frustrated with the whole issue stormed his business centre to almost fight him, blaming him for what she was going through.

“Some of those who come to the NIN office are simply directed to use the self-modification process with their phones. Many of them don’t know how to do it. We offer to assist them to be paid.

“A lady I assisted saw that her name had been modified in the NIN portal after some days even though the old profile was there. And when she did only the modified name showed. She still came back here after she met frustration at the bank. The bank should upgrade its server and NIMC on its part should complete modifications timely,” he added.

At the Guaranty Trust bank, GTB, close to Refinery road junction, a staff of the bank who spoke under condition of anonymity said the problem was from NIMC, explaining that the Commission provided banks with the portal they were using.

“When the NIMC completes the modification process it automatically shows in the portal they provided us. They should update the app they gave us. We don’t even see the modified names when we want to print out slips for our customers. All we see is the old profile. NIMC should complete the modification process” the source said.

It was a similar story at the Ecobank opposite the GTB. A staff of the bank said they had been having similar problems. “In a country where things work, this should not be a problem. I pity customers when I see the frustrations they go through “, the staff member who doesn’t want to be mentioned said.

Mrs. Modupe Fashina, a bank customer who spoke to Vanguard in Lagos, said: “I had to abandon the process. When I took my NIN slip to the bank, I was asked to change my name on the NIN portal. My NIN slip was carrying Dupe while my bank account carried the name Modupe.

“I paid N5,000 to those people at the local government then because all attempts to change the name on my mobile NIN app failed. On getting to the bank, I was told by the customer care staff of the bank that the name change does not reflect on its system.

“I was shuttling between the bank and NIN office at the Local government office for two weeks. I just abandoned the process, leaving it like that. Till now I have not linked my NIN to my bank account.”

Another trader who spoke to Vanguard in Lagos, Mrs. Fadekemi Shodipe, a trader said: “Until now NIMCs have not rectified the changes in my name and date of birth. When I tried linking my NIN to my bank account through a link they sent to me in my email, it didn’t go well. I had to visit their branch. It was there that I was told that my date of birth and my first name does not tally with what I have in the bank.

“On getting to the NIMC office, I filled out a form indicating the changes I wanted to make. I returned to the bank a week after and was told that the changes have not been made.

“I went to the NIMCs office again and they showed me proof of the modifications which had been corrected the previous week.

“I returned to my bank again and the customer care manager was saying that the NIMCs’ system was only showing the changes they made but the modification is not showing on their own system faulting NIMCs for such a problem.

“I was really mad at the bank and told the customer care staff that I was not leaving the bank because I was unable to access my money in the account and the things I needed money for were still hanging. I was then told to bring an affidavit showing the corrected name and date of birth.

“I also paid N3,000 to the guy in the bank who helped me with the process. “I have a lady that is still on the issue. I really don’t know how many means of identification we will require to access the funds in our account.”

Mrs. Bimbo Adams, another Lagos-based bank customer said: “I have this experience and till now I haven’t been able to solve the problem after spending N10,000. The Federal Government should summon the banks and NIMCs to upgrade the NIN modification system so that when changes are made on names, sex, age among other things, it reflects immediately in the banks’ systems.

“My first name and middle name were merged together as my surname in my NIN card. “On getting to the bank, I was asked to rectify the problem which I did at the NIMCs office in our local government. “When I returned to the bank, I discovered another error, this time my last name and middle name had been merged as my last name.

“I returned to the NIMCs office and they were showing me the previous changes I made which were correct and I was wondering how the error of my middle and last name merged as one name, came about on the bank’s system. I just stopped going to the bank.

“I realised that the problem is from NIMCs. Many of the people handling this modification of NIN are not well grounded with the technical knowledge of updating personal details and uploading it on the system to reflect such changes. I am still looking at visiting my bank again on this issue. I should have gone there last week but my business is not sparing the time.” (Vanguard)