There are reports of ongoing mass production of fake national identification cards in Maryland County by unscrupulous individuals impersonating staffers of the National Identification Registry from Monrovia.
The information comes at a time Liberians are gearing up for elections next year, and unscrupulous individuals may attempt to falsify Liberian Citizenship to obtain voter's cards and participate in the elections.
Addressing a news conference on Tuesday, September 27, at the N.I.R. Head Office in Oldest Congo Town outside Monrovia, Executive Director Teah Nagbe disclosed there's a case involving the issuance of fake National Identification Cards by unscrupulous individuals, calling on the public to be on the alert.
Mr. Nagbe explains that recently, the N.I.R. was informed about unscrupulous individuals producing fake national ID cards in mass numbers in Maryland County, but his office in collaboration with the Liberia Immigration Service has arrested the situation and the matter is being investigated by the police.
"We knew about that incident prior to the LIS involvement because our system and has major authentication tools that can detect fake NIR cards", Director Nagbe says.
He notes that in Maryland, an international organization is providing relief services to citizens, something, he says led to the mass production of fake National ID cards to increase their household size so that they may receive more relief items.
He recalls that during the Liberian Civil War, some residents doubled passed the number of their individual households just to get more relief items from aid agencies, which is something similar occurring in Maryland.
"So, in Maryland people want to have bigger ration despite having their legitimate ID cards; that's how they started producing those cards but our system was able to detect it and they were arrested and turned over to the police for further investigation."
However, the N.I.R. boss did not give the number of suspects arrested and currently being investigated as he claims.
He says if any citizen wishes to acquire NIR ID card the best way to obtain it is by going directly to assigned staff at the enrollment center or meet agents wearing NIR jackets and carrying valid ID cards.
But reveals NIR enrollment centers were closed for the past two weeks due to new measures and upgrades of procedures for obtaining identification cards.
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He explains the new upgrading system will allow the renewal of expired ID cards especially, for those whose cards had expired for long time and are facing difficulties in having them renewed.
Mr. Nagbe assures the public that with support from the government through the Ministry of Finance, the N.I.R. will shortly begin the renewal exercise to ease the stress of citizens, who have encountered difficulties in acquiring new cards.
"We're optimistic that the NIR will begin to accept applications for the renewal exercise by next week, beginning from Monday", he says.
He adds that the price for acquiring NIR identification card remains US$5.00 or its equivalent in Liberian Dollars, further disclosing the new card will last for seven years, unlike the previous ones that were issued to the public for the duration of three years.
However, director Nagbe himself was recently in Maryland county, where he declared his intention to vie for the senate, carrying on pre-campaign activities.
It may be recalled that the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) of the World Bank at the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Identification Registry (NIR) to register 30,000 farmers.
According to the NIR, the targeted farmers are beneficiaries of the Smallholder Agriculture Transformation and Agribusiness Revitalization Project (STAR Project) and the Rural Economic Transformation Project (RETRAP). Editing by Jonathan Browne
