By Ghazali Ibrahim
A Nigerian man identified as Ikhide R Ikheloa, in Maryland has expressed frustration over the high costs of obtaining the National Identification Number (NIN) and Bank Verification Number (BVN) in the U.S.
After spending #90,000 for the BVN and #105,000 for the NIN, the man took to his Facebook page to share his lengthy ordeal that took 8 hours and several failed attempts due to technical issues with the machines.
The process, which is typically free in Nigeria, became a costly and time-consuming task, leading to disappointment not only with the service but also with the experience at a local Nigerian restaurant.
While the people at the service centers were friendly and professional, Ikhide compared this difficult process to his previous encounter in Lagos, where he had a similar experience with questionable service during NIN registration.
Despite the challenges, he remains hopeful about the results, though it’s clear that the cost and inefficiency left a bitter taste.
In his words, “Processing an application for the NIN and BVN numbers is free in Nigeria. Here in Maryland, it costs $60 for each and they usually only take cash. Interesting.
“This happened in Baltimore. We had initially gone to get the NIN, you need it to renew your Nigerian passport. The first place we went to asked if we had a BVN, when we said no, they didn’t seem happy. They offered to do the NIN for $70 and the BVN for $60. We got the BVN done but the scanner attached to the NIN software would not cooperate. After three hours, we left to go to lunch at a Nigerian restaurant. Mediocre food, lumps of boiled meat thrown into soups and hastily microwaved and handed over to us at cutthroat prices.
“We called another place and they had a similar problem with their machine. Finally found another place that successfully captured the fingerprints. We spent 8 hours total trying to get the application processed. We await the results. The people were friendly and professional sha. But I won’t be going back to that restaurant again.
“ML and I did our NIN in Ikeja Lagos in 2019. The officials there were basically scam artists taking money from us and typing in garbage just to get the numbers out. It didnt help that they figured out we were from “the abroad.”
” SMH. I am sure they all have mansions in Lekki by now. A monkey can walk up there, hand over Naira and obo the monkey will have an NIN. Nigerian civil servants are a national security risk. I am assuming they were civil servants.”
