NIMC Chides Telecos, Banks Not To Blame Or Shirk Duties

The Federal Government of Nigeria has said there is no justification for some commercial banks and telecommunication providers to fail attending to their customers over the breakdown of the country’s identity portal.

The government had made it compulsory for Nigerians to supply their unique identity numbers otherwise known as NIN before they can access certain services offered by some private companies and government agencies.

However, NIMC’s portal has been down since last week, and the development has affected the issuance of international passports, account opening at banks and access to telecommunication services.

But NIMC chided the banks and telcos, as well as the NIS, for blaming it for their inability to offer services to their customers. NIMC, in a statement by its spokesperson, Kayode Adegoke, said it was an unreasonable action for the organisations to shirk their duties.

The major technical glitch has forced down multiple government websites for weeks, halting the services and information provided by the platforms.

At least, six websites, including those of the presidential office and the NIMC, were affected as of Tuesday afternoon. All affected sites had an error message that said: “This site can’t be reached.”

Other affected sites were those of the Budget Office of the Federation, Open Treasury, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigeria Police Force (NPF), and the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF).