CHECKMYPEOPLE LAUNCHES IDENTITY VERIFICATION SERVICE (IVS)
Under license from the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)
ENSURE YOUR STAFF ARE WHO THEY SAY THEY ARE!!!
#TRUST BUT VERIFY
An Online Community Policing platform, CheckMyPeople Limited, has identified one of the greatest risks households in Nigeria face today as dependence on unknown and unverified persons for domestic services . A representative of CheckMyPeople, Mr. Chudi Obiofuma, noted that Nigerian households employ domestic staff to help with many tasks, and can afford to have on average two to three domestic staff working for them in one capacity or other. Job responsibilities include; Drivers, Cooks, Maids, Nannies, Security Men, Gate Keepers, Child Minders, Lesson coaches, etc.
According to Mr. Obiofuma, the way employers recruit people is usually by word of mouth, and not based on any data or documentation. People are usually employed through an informal process of referrals, where a family will request the services of a person or agency to search then present candidates for screening and employment, often for a significant finder’s fee plus expenses.
These families, he maintained, rely on the words of these middle men and women and have no way of independently verifying the information provided to them. Consequently, most families have been disappointed with the quality of services provided by their domestic staff, and some have been subjected to theft, job abandonment, poor services, incompetence, and in extreme cases, physical harm to their families like poisoning, kidnapping and even murder.
He also noted that we as employers do not communicate with each other. This “wall of silence” is the reason why these criminal elements posing as domestic staff can move from home to home, committing crimes, as there are no records of such crimes available to prospective employers. Thus, someone is able to commit a crime in one home, gets fired and quickly get a job in another home under a new name. With no knowledge of their past, the unsuspecting family bring them in and they are able to commit even more serious crimes. As currently practiced he maintained, employers have no way of determining who these people are, where they have worked, what they have done in the past and if they have a criminal past.
To address this absence of background information on prospective domestic employees, he said CheckMyPeople has introduced the concept of Online Community Policing . This, he explained is where families come together in an online community to share information about domestic staff that they employ in their homes. Each family is responsible for documenting the people that work for them on an online database.
He believes that when every member of the community document their staff, the community gets to maintain a comprehensive work history of all domestic employees within that community, and hopefully Nigeria at large. So with records maintained by current and past employers, communication is established with prospective employers, who are able to see the employment history of each applicant, and better able to assess the risks associated with hiring them, especially if there is a criminal record in their past.
According to Mr. Obiofuma, in order to support the concept of Online Community Policing and ensure better communication within the community, CheckMyPeople has provided an online database platform that will allow registered users in Nigeria to document their domestic staff as well as record their professional and personal interactions with them. The generated data, he stated, will constitute work history and background information on each domestic employee, which will be available for search by prospective employers within the community
Through this search capability a potential employer will be afforded enough background information that they are able to make more informed decisions . They are able to better assess their risks based on prior employee work history, whether to hire or walk away. He emphasized that the larger the community the better. Thus, whether you are a member of a religious group, professional body, housing estate, small or large business that employ drivers, cooks, store clerk, cashier, washer man, gateman, security guard, lesson teacher, steward, etc. in your business or home, you need to register and add your staff.
He also stated that CheckMyPeople has adopted the National Identification Number (NIN) as the unique identifier on their platform. The NIN he believe is critical because It is associated with stringent biometric data collection by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), and uniquely identifies every registered Nigerian. Additionally, it can be verified against the NIMC database to ensure authenticity before it is used on their platform.
Mr. Obiofuma announced that CheckMyPeople is pleased to launch its Identity Verification Services (IVS) under Verification license with National identity Management Commission (NIMC), for the Verification of the National Identification Number (NIN) This service, he stated, is a very crucial step in every employer’s ability to conduct effective due diligence. With this employers are able to establish upfront that people are who they say they are .
Mr. Obiofuma advised employers of domestic staff to always insist that every prospective employee has a National Identification Number (NIN), which can be verified against the NIMC National Database. He encourages everyone to :
- Do their due diligence!
- Join the community by registering for free!
- Take advantage of the many benefits to protect your homes and families.
CONTACTS:
Web:
- checkmypeople.com
Instagram:
- @checkmypeople.com
- @naija_community_policing
- CheckMyPeople Community
- Online Community Policing in Nigeria
Twitter:
- @checkmypeople
YouTube
- checkmypeople
- info@checkmypeople.com