INEC says NIN not required for voter registration

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that the National Identification Number (NIN) will not be a requirement for voter registration.

Isa Pantami, minister of Communications and Digital Economy, last week the NIN policy is backed by law announced that  it will be compulsory for most government transactions, including opening of bank accounts, payment of taxes and voter registration.

.But the chief press secretary to the INEC chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi explained that while INEC does not oppose the use of NIN for government transactions, the commission does not require its use for voters’ registration.

Oyekanmi said INEC cannot ask voters to produce NIN before they will be registered because the law did not say so.

He said, “INEC did not oppose NIN for government transactions, including opening of bank accounts and payment of taxes, but what we are saying is that it is not stated in the 1999 Constitution or Electoral Act which are the two official documents which guides the activities of the commission.

“What we are saying is that no government organisation can ask us to use NIN for voter’s registration when the law does not say so.

“The two legal documents guiding INEC activities is the 1999 constitution and Electoral Act as amended. So as far as we are concerned, the two documents said INEC should register voters and the criteria in these documents did not say INEC must ask voters or prospective voters to provide NIN for their registration,” he said.

Speaking further, he said INEC will continue to register voters according to the laws guiding the conduct of the commission.

“We are not going to ask voters to produce NIN as our requirement. We are not ready to join issues with the minister but what we are saying is based on our mandate, there is no where NIN was mentioned,” he added.