NIN Linkage As A Way Of Distracting Nigerians
The Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ordered all Nigerians to link their National Identification Number (NIN) to their bank accounts. The deadline given by the apex bank was yesterday and thousands of bank accounts have been restricted.
The government wants to use the NIN to track crimes and resolve some issues. However, a clear view of the instruction shows the main agenda of the government, which is just to distract the attention of the people of the country from the main issue of economic woes.
Millions of Nigerians are really suffering and the current President Bola Tinubu himself has admitted that there are pains and hardship in the country. Inflation is soaring with no meaningful efforts to stop the situation and “let the poor breathe”.
This wouldn’t be the first time that the federal government would give instructions pertaining to the NIN. Of course, it should be a compulsory document every Nigerian should have. But what has been its benefit in particular?
Nigerians struggle to link the number to their phone numbers. A lot of the citizens of the country are still trying futilely to have NIN. Apart from that, how has the linkage of NIN to phone numbers helped to curb insecurity? More Nigerians are still at the mercy of kidnappers, bandits, terrorists and secessionists. How many of the criminals have been tracked and arrested using NIN-linked phone numbers?
It’s unfortunate that a government would wake up one day and look for ways to make life more unbearable for the people or to distract them for its poor handling of the affairs of the country.
Nigerians would recall how the cash crunch destroyed thousands of businesses. The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria sold the idea of changing naira notes to former President Muhammadu Buhari, who didn’t circumspect the idea. He bought it and the whole country was thrown into confusion and struggle for naira notes.
The same old notes are more in circulation till this moment. The attention of the people of the country was shifted from the reality that time. The same things are manifesting right now.
In fact, this is not the appropriate time to come up with the policy. If truly the government wants to achieve something, there are other documents and means of identification linked to the bank accounts. Does it mean voter’s card, passport and driver’s license are no longer useful? Are the pieces of information on them irrelevant or insignificant?
President Bola Tinubu’s Government is merely distracting Nigerians. For the next weeks, months, Nigerians would queue in banks, NIMC offices to link their NIN or register for NIN. As a matter of fact, scammers would also cash in on that and swindle unsuspecting citizens of the country.
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