Confusion in telecom, banking sectors over continued server failure
Ten days on, the collapse in the national data infrastructure is yet to abate, as experts continue to battle the protracted technical glitch.
This has paralysed operations of banks, telecom outfits, immigration and other critical agencies of government, across sectors.
For instance, most of the telecom subscribers have continued to lament their inability to retrieve lost SIM cards or get new ones, owing to the non-accessibility of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) portal.
Bank customers also suffered similar fate as they complained of the inability of their various banks to link their Biometric Verification Number (BVN) with their National Identity Numbers (NINs).
Recall that the breakdown of the backbone infrastructure occurred 10 days ago, which affected most government agencies like immigration, Police, Road Safety and telecom operators, among other critical public institutions.
The NIMC had on Monday debunked the earlier report that attributed the glitch to the collapse of its server but attributed the collapse to a government agency in charge of ICT services.
The Commission’s head of Corporate Communications, Kayode Adegoke revealed that an alternative platform, virtual National Identity Number (vNIN) had been provided for easy verification of NIN in its portal.
According to Adegoke, with the vNIN, there was no need for delay in verification of any person NIMC enrolled.
But few days after the offer was made, findings showed that the major service providers like banks and telecom operators were yet to take the advantage of the virtual NIN offered by NIMC as an alternative platform for NIN verification.
