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The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has announced that 107.33 million Nigerians have been enrolled into the National Identification Number (NIN) database as of May 2023.
This represents a significant increase of 3.18 million from the previous figure of 104.16 million recorded at the end of December 2023.
The surge in enrollments is likely attributed to the Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) announcement that all bank accounts without Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) or NIN would be frozen from April 2024.
Mr. Femi Fabunmi, Director of Database at NIMC, disclosed the latest enrollment figures during a press briefing in Abuja, stating, "As of this morning, the total enrollment in our database is 107,338,044."
Abisoye Coker-Odusote, Director-General of NIMC, acknowledged that the current database capacity is nearing exhaustion and revealed ongoing efforts to expand it to accommodate 250 million unique NINs for adults.
"We have started to work on upgrading the capacity across all boards from the network infrastructure perspective to software licensing areas," she said. "We are working on that to increase the capacity that we have. We are trying to ensure that we increase it from 100 million to 250 million."
The upgrade process, which involves replacing and upgrading outdated equipment, is estimated to take a minimum of six to nine months.
Coker-Odusote further explained that while the number of NINs recorded exceeds 100 million, some data belongs to children who are not required to provide certain information like fingerprints. She stressed the urgency of the database upgrade, stating, "We are approaching the end of our capacity."
The Director of the Database clarified that the 100 million capacity is based on licensing available for each adult NIN, which is not required for children's data. This explains why the database hasn't reached its full capacity yet.
The NIMC DG also revealed that the commission is reviewing its fees for services, assuring that getting a NIN remains free. She stated, "We are definitely reviewing our rates. We will not increase them too much, but we are going to review our rates."
Coker-Odusote emphasized that the newly launched multipurpose identity card is not free. She also mentioned partnerships with ministries like the Ministry of Agriculture to enhance enrollment and noted that some government agencies have been appointed as front-end partners to assist more Nigerians in obtaining their NIN.
However, some front-end partners have been found to have mishandled the NIN registration process, prompting investigations.
Coker-Odusote, who inherited a debt of almost N30 billion, is actively working to resolve this issue along with others. While NIMC intends to clear outstanding debts to front-end partners, discussions are ongoing to settle fines for infractions before debts are paid.
