Daniel Ayemere, a Cameraman with the AIT Benin Centre, will not forget in a hurry the humiliation he suffered in the hands of the securitymen and officials of the National Identity Management Commission(NIMC) in their office in Benin City.
Dan, as he is called, had arrived with three of his children at the NIMC office in Benin situated Off Sapele Road to get their National Identification Number(NIN) for which they had been earlier captured some years back. To wrap it up fast and attend to other pressing issues, the Ayemeres had arrived at the office as early as 8am.
No matter Dan’s presentation his attempt to get into the premises with his family was rebuffed by the securitymen at the Complex gate who insisted that the bewildered man can only be allowed in after he has greased their palm.
True to their vow Dan and his children were only allowed access to the facility after he had done the bidding of the securitymen.
But if Dan thought his entrance into the complex is a solution to him getting attended to and thus achieving his desire to get the ‘golden’ NIN he got another think coming.
He got another shocker when the officials who were openly soliciting for bribe before giving any of their ‘customers’ attention refused to give him an audience by ‘stylishly’ avoiding to give him attention and thus resolve the issues that brought him to the place.
Frustrated, tired and feeling the pang of hunger Dan and his children had no option than to leave the facility after close to over eight hours fruitless stay at the NIMC office.
Dan has an advice to anybody who is nurturing the idea of going to the get his/her NIN card at the Benin office of the NIMC to fill his purse with enough money so as not to experience the kind of shabby treatment that he was given when he went there.
“I am informing the general public that what’s going on there(NIMC Office) is alarming and beyond human comprehension. The hostile behaviour of the securitymen is something else not to talk of the unfriendly attitude of the officials,” Dan quipped.
Postscript – Getting a NIN card does not require any payment so says the NIMC.
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