IN SHORT: The birth registration effort by NPC, Unicef and NYSC has opened the recruitment process for officials. There have been messages on WhatsApp and Facebook falsely asking Nigerians to apply.
Nigeria’s National Population Commission (NPC) is looking for people older than 18 to take part in its birth registration activity. That’s according to several forwarded messages sent to Africa Check on WhatsApp in June 2023.
The population commission is responsible for counting the country’s population through periodical censuses and surveys. The birth registration is an effort to ascertain the number of live births in Nigeria.
“NPC E-BIRTH Registration Of Adhoc Staff Recruitment 2023 online application exercise is out all bonafide citizens only who needs to work as Adhoc staff for the 2023 Population and Housing Census,” the message reads.
It also includes a link for applications, which takes readers to a website.
We found the same message on Facebook here and here.
But is this the correct link for the commission’s birth registration recruitment for adhoc staff? We checked.
Signs of a scam
There are a few red flags that indicate the advert is a scam.
The provided link doesn’t lead to the official website of the NPC. It directs to a simple website with a banner and an application form that asks for users’ personal information like gender, first name, last name, email, phone number and National Identification Number (NIN).
The National Identity Management Commission is the body in charge of identity management in Nigeria. It has regularly advised Nigerians not to expose their NIN to the public.
Link to real ad-hoc staff hire for birth registration
Birth registration is a collaborative effort of the population commission, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef), to promote birth registration in Nigeria.
The original link by the population commission to apply for the ad-hoc birth registration vacancies can be seen here. The registration launched in June 2023 and interested persons can apply if they meet the requirements. You can either register as a corps member or an ad-hoc staff.
Disregard fake recruitment links – NPC
The Guardian newspaper reported that in 2022, the population commission distanced itself from an online ad-hoc staff recruitment portal said to be for the 2023 census.
A similar report was also found in the Daily Independent newspaper, showing that some people were creating fake job ads and links to get users’ personal information.
Trying to be safe on the internet? Follow these tips on spotting Facebook scams.
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