The House of Representatives on Wednesday called on the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) to use the National Identity Number (NIN) or local government identification as a precondition for the 2020 scholarships for masters and doctoral degrees.
The resolution of the House was sequel to the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance moved by Hon. Ben Igbakpa.
Leading the debate, Igbakpa said PTDF had announced, as can be verified from its online portal, that applicants for its 2020 scholarship for masters and doctoral degrees must have a National Identity Number (NIN) before applying for the scholarship, adding that applicants are also expected to verify their NIN before commencing the application.
The lawmaker, however, expressed concerned that using NIN as precondition for the scholarship is now a major stumbling block to otherwise eligible applicants who are yet to obtain their NIN.
Igbakpa said most Nigerians are yet to obtain the NIN due to no fault of theirs, stressing that it would be unconscionable to visit the sins of the NIMC on innocent applicants.
The lawmaker noted that the registration process of the NIMC is indeed very laborious and slow nationwide due to inadequate facilities and manpower.
He added that the Director-General of the NIMC, Mr. Aliyu Azeez, recently admitted in a national daily that the agency is overwhelmed with its work because it needs about 4,000 centres nationwide, but only make do with 1,000 centres at the moment.
The lawmaker stated that the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) recently suspended the use of the NIN as requirement for the 2020 UTME, due to technical hitches at the NIMC.
He said the same hitches that greeted JAMB over the NIN are likely to compromise PTDF scholarship programme for 2020 if nothing is urgently done to reverse the decision by management of PTDF.
The House, therefore, urged the federal government to integrate all data capturing agencies as well as mandated the House Committee on Population to investigate the reasons why Nigerians are finding it difficult to get registered.
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