The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has assured that all Nigerians will be issued with the National Identification Number (NIN) over the next two years.
The Head of Corporate Communications at Commission, Mr. Kayode Adegoke, disclosed this on Sunday during an X Space to educate Nigerians on the NIMC Self-Service Modification platform.
Although the latest data released by the commission shows that 104.16 million NINs had been issued as of December 2023, Adegoke said over 105 million NINs have now been issued. Nigeria is currently estimated to have a population of over 200 million.
- “As of today, over 105 million NIN have been issued to Nigerians and legal residents. We want to assure Nigerians that within the next one or two years, we will reach our target of enrolling all Nigerians,” he said
The NIMC spokesperson added that every enrolment for NIN is a continuous process, and the agency will reach the target if enrolling all Nigerians.
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The self-service platform
While urging Nigerians to take advantage of the self-service modification portal, which allows Nigerians to effect corrections on their data without visiting the NIMC office, Adegoke said:
- “In the past, if any applicant has issues with the data on their NIN, you have to go to our office or any of our centers physically to go and do the modification.
- “However, I want to remind Nigerians that when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, came on board on May 29, 2023, one of the pillars of the Renewed Hope Agenda is to strengthen the national identification system in Nigeria.
- “In August, President Tinubu nominated Engineer Abisoye Coker to manage the affairs of the commission. When she became the DG/CEO, one of the things she noticed was that the process for modification and the process for enrollment was a bit cumbersome. So, she came up with a self-service platform.
- “Now this service is to ensure that Nigerians either here or abroad, do not need to go to a centre or do not need to be physically present for modification to be done. Through this platform, Nigerians can change their names, dates of birth, email addresses, phone numbers, and so on. They can do all these in the comfort of their homes or offices on their devices, be it iOS or Android-based devices.”
With the self-service portal, Adegoke said all modifications are now done within 24-48 hours, a departure from the past when people had to wait for months before the modification was effected.
Between NIMC mobile app and self-service portal
Responding to questions on the difference between the NIMC self-service portal and the NIMC mobile app, which has been in existence long before now, Adegoke said the two platforms perform different functions.
According to him, while the mobile app can be used for identification and also offers the functionality of linking mobile numbers to NIN, the self-service portal only allows the modification of data, which is also not available on the app.
Participants at the virtual meeting, however, advised the NIMC to integrate the same data modification functionality into its app, to make the process easier and more seamless for Nigerians.
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