* Burantai,  COAS

The Defence Headquarters on Wednesday warned Nigerians against approaching unauthorized agencies and individuals for national identification registration stressing that the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) remained the only agency responsible for registration and issuance of the national identity card.

This is contained in a statement by Col. Rabe Abubakar, Acting Director of Defence Information, in Abuja.
The statement said the military authorities had issued a ‘’red alert’’ against the prevailing incidences of unauthorized reproduction of the national identity card by unscrupulous elements in the society.

It added that unauthorised production and distribution of the cards could engender ‘’serious security breach in the ongoing counter-insurgency operation in the North-East’’.

According to the statement, the approved national identity card, which is a chip-based card, has over 18 security features.
It explained that some of the features were not visible to naked eyes, which distinguished the card from any of its kinds and could only be issued by the NIMC.

``The implication of fake national ID cards in circulation is that Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East also used similar method of identification for their members in the past who were nabbed by the military.

``The general public should guard against patronizing unauthorized agents to obtain their national identification as there are racketeers issuing fake cards for monetary and criminal gains,’’ it said.

The statement said the alert would assist the security forces to contain infiltration of illegal aliens who may acquire the cards to legalise their migration into the country to support the terrorists.
It, therefore, appealed to members of the public to report any attempt by unauthorized persons to issue cards similar to the national identity cards to the security agencies.