The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) is targeting the registration of 95 million National Identification Numbers (NIN) in the next two years.
The head of corporate communications at NIMC, Kayode Adegoke, who disclosed this over the weekend via an X Space to educate Nigerians on the NIMC Self-Service Modification platform, averred that over 105 million NINs have now been issued.
Nigeria is currently estimated to have a population of over 200 million. With over 105 million NINs issued till date, the NIMC is targeting about 95 million NINs in the next two years.
“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.
He went on to say that enrolling new members for NIN is an ongoing process, adding that if all Nigerians are enrolled, the agency will meet its goal.
Adegoke therefore encouraged Nigerians to utilise the self-service modification portal, which enables them to make changes to their data without physically visiting the NIMC office. “Previously, if any applicant had problems with the data on their NIN, you had to go to our office or any of our centres to go and do the modification.
“However, I want to remind Nigerians that when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came on board on May 29, 2023, one of the pillars of the Renewed Hope Agenda was 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. a
“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,” Adegoke explained.
In contrast to the past, when users had to wait months for the modification to take effect, Adegoke claimed that all modifications are now completed through the self-service site in 24-48 hours.
The NIMC self-service portal and the mobile app Adegoke remarked that the two systems serve different purposes in response to inquiries about the distinctions between the long-running NIMC mobile app and the self-service portal.
As to his statement, the self-service site solely permits data updating, which is not accessible on the app, whereas the mobile app can be utilised for identification purposes and provides the ability to link mobile numbers to NIN.
