Enrolment for the National Identification Number (NIN) rose to 92.63 million as of November 28, 2022.
This is according to the latest data released by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) as seen by Nairametrics.
This shows that NIMC recorded a total of 1.9 million new enrolments in November, as the database stood at 90.68 million at the end of October.
More men enrolled: In terms of gender distribution, the NIMC data revealed that 52.1 million people, representing 56% of Nigerians so far captured in the NIN database, are male. The remaining 40.5 million (44%) are female.
Enrolments by states: According to the statistics, Lagos State has so far recorded the highest number of enrolments in the country with 10.3 million Nigerians captured in the State. This was followed by Kano State, which recorded 8 million registered NIN.
Other States that made the top ten in terms of the number of enrolments include Kaduna with 5.4 million, Ogun with 3.8 million, Oyo with 3.6 million, FCT with 3.2 million, Katsina with 3.1 million, Rivers with 2.7 million, Delta with 2.4 million, and Bauchi also with 2.4 million NIN registrations.
The bottom states: The NIMC data shows that the ten states with the lowest NIN enrolments are Zamfara with 1.6 million total enrolments as of November, Akwa Ibom with 1.5 million, Imo with 1.5 million, Enugu with 1.5 million, Yobe with 1.3 million, Taraba with 1.3 million, Cross River with 1 million, Ekiti with 971,712, Ebonyi with 744,869, and Bayelsa with 583,323.
The Back story: For years, Nigeria has struggled to create a credible national database through the NIN without success.
However, with a government policy introduced in December 2020 mandating all mobile subscribers to link their SIM with NIN, many Nigerians are being forced to enrol for the national number.
To address the infrastructure limitations of NIMC, which had slowed the process for years, some companies, including telecommunications operators, were licensed to act as enrolment agents. The government’s directive in April this year mandated telecom operators to bar outgoing calls from telephone lines not linked, affecting about 75 million lines.
Many of the affected subscribers were forced to go for the NIN enrolment and link their lines to have it restored for communications.