The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has decried the poor level of National Identification Number (NIN) registrations in Bayelsa

The state director of NIMC, Stephen Inokoba, made this known when he visited the state deputy governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo on Friday in Yenagoa.

Mr Inokoba informed the deputy governor that the commission was surprised that less than one million persons had registered on the NIMC database since the exercise started in 2023.

He attributed the poor registration to apathy and likely ignorance on the part of the people.

He added that the commission had to close down some centres in the eight local government areas due to poor response from the people to the exercise.

Mr Inokoba appealed to the state government to come to its aid in the exercise.

Mr Ewhrudjakpo said that the state government would partner with the commission by creating more NIN registration centres in all the council areas.

He described as unfair and unacceptable the closure of several NIN registration centres across the state, making Bayelsa the only state with less than one million people registered so far on the NIMC database.

Mr Ewhrudjakpo debunked the notion that Bayelsa was the smallest state in the country, noting that the landmass and natural endowments of the state had strategically positioned it as a big state in the federation.

His words: “We salute and appreciate your good sense of patriotism and responsibility towards the people of Bayelsa, so that they are not left out. Thank you for the commitment you have shown.

“Bayelsa deserves a better deal. We are ready to collaborate with you. By next week, I will meet with the local government chairmen and their RDA counterparts.

” We are going to spare no effort to ensure that we change the erroneous impression that Bayelsa is a small state,” he said.

(NAN)