‘I was born without fingerprint’ – Nigerian lady recalls JAMB, bank biometric issues

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A Nigerian woman who was born without fingerprints has shared her experience navigating biometric identification systems, recounting the difficulties she encountered during JAMB registration, the National Youth Service Corps programme and banking transactions.

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The woman, known on Instagram as J for Jidds, shared her experience in a video posted on Saturday, explaining that she discovered she had the condition in 2017 while registering for her first Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board examination.

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According to her, what should have been a routine registration turned into a frustrating ordeal after officials struggled to capture her fingerprints.

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She said, “I stayed there the whole day with my dad. I watched over 200 people register before me. It was—I cried.”

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Jidds said officials tried different methods in an attempt to make her fingerprints readable, including sand, spirit, methylated spirit, chalk and watermelon.

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She recalled, “I had to scrub my hand on a stone at a point. And then I got to register.”

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The problem did not end with registration. She said she also encountered difficulties during the examination because the biometric system sometimes recognised her fingerprints when she entered but failed to authenticate them when she attempted to leave.

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“Sometimes I would be able to thumbprint in and I will not be able to thumbprint out,” she said.

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The woman said the same challenge followed her into other areas of life where biometric verification is

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required.

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“Living in Nigeria without fingerprints has been—has been terrible, honestly. From NYSC to JAMB to the bank, to any other thing that needs biometrics. I always have anxiety, It has been frustrating,” she said.

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During her NYSC programme, she said she had to use her foot for biometric verification because the ridges on her toes were also too faint.

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She also revealed that her condition had exposed her to misconceptions from some people.

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Jidds said she initially believed she was the only person in Nigeria experiencing the condition until she made a light-hearted post about it on Instagram.

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“I was born without fingerprints, and for many years, I thought I was the only person with something like this in Nigeria.

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“Then I made a little joke on Instagram, and almost a hundred people reached out to me telling me that they had the same issue,” she said.

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She identified the condition as adermatoglyphia, a rare condition in which a person has absent or greatly reduced fingerprints.

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