No fewer than 120 million Nigerians have so far been enrolled in the National Identity Number (NIN) database, the Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Abisoye Coker-Odusote, disclosed on Wednesday in Abuja.
Speaking at a media conference, Mrs Coker-Odusote said the NIN enrolment exercise remains ongoing across urban and rural areas, with an aggressive drive to expand the reach before the end of the year.
“We have enrolled many Nigerians and are still counting. We are definitely going to continue until we capture more Nigerians before year-end,” she said.
According to the NIMC boss, the agency’s partnership with the World Bank under the Nigeria Identification for Development (ID4D) project has boosted private sector involvement through a scheme known as “Frontier Partners.” This initiative allows private actors to work alongside NIMC officials in capturing data across the country.
She further noted that the commission had equipped state and local government offices with upgraded facilities and trained personnel to ease the registration process.
“We have well-trained NIMC staff ready to assist applicants in modifying or updating their information. The pricing framework was also reviewed, with some prices adjusted downward, others upward, and a few removed entirely,” she added.
To improve efficiency, Mrs Coker-Odusote said the commission introduced a self-service modification platform that enables Nigerians to update their records online using biometric authentication. This is aimed at easing the burden of relocation or job-related record updates.
“In today’s Nigeria, people often move between states. With the online Self-Assist Platform, they no longer need to queue at centres.
They can log in, authenticate with their biometrics, and update their records while adhering to cybersecurity and data protection protocols,” she explained.
The DG also highlighted the role of the NIMC NIN Authentication app, which integrates with the commission’s backend systems and offers added protection for personal data.
On access to government services, she revealed that the newly introduced student loan scheme would require applicants to be enrolled in the NIN database.
This, she said, promotes financial inclusion and helps in eliminating identity fraud.
“All a student needs to do is input their name on the loan portal, and a verified identity pops up from a single, secure database. This simplifies the process and ensures transparency,” she said.
Mrs Coker-Odusote added that the commission had taken steps to reduce corruption and extortion within the enrolment system by up to 40 per cent through ongoing reforms and partnerships with cybersecurity experts.
She assured that continuous training and retraining of NIMC staff was underway to maintain service delivery standards nationwide.
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