The Federal Government of Nigeria has been urged to cease the purported security breach associated with the requirement for citizens to link their NIN (National Identification Number) and BVN (Bank Verification Number) with their telephone numbers.
High Chief Tola Adeniyi, the Jagun Oodua Adimula II of Yorubaland, a veteran journalist and columnist, emphasized that exposing sensitive security information like the NIN, which is equivalent to the Social Security Number in other countries, to the public domain is unprecedented and potentially dangerous.
Adeniyi stated, “There is no precedent globally for the open market exposure of sensitive security details such as the NIN, which is equivalent to the Social Security Number in other countries, as Patami has compelled Nigerians to do.”
His words, “The origin of this politically motivated scheming was when Buhari threw the Nigerian citizenship to all manners of migrants, particularly the Fulani from all over Africa via his reckless pronouncement in Cairo, Egypt.
“Sham legislation was enacted which purportedly conferred Nigerian citizenship on any migrant who possessed a phone number attached to NIN and lived anywhere in the country for a year or two.
“The shenanigan was meant to seriously alter the country’s demographics.
“Anybody who gains access to other people’s NIN, now made porous through phone numbers, can easily commit all manners of criminality with the vital information so garnered.
“The Federal Government is exposing Nigerians to local, national and international crooks and criminals with the continuation of this severe security breach. It must be stopped today.”
Adeniyi stated further that, “I call on Nigerian constitutional lawyers and security experts to step into this matter and quickly intervene and secure government compliance.
“Nigerians have been abused for too long with silly and self-serving laws and regulations for too long.
“This security breach is one too many.”