Nigeria on pace for universal digital ID enrollment by 2026, female registrants 44 percent

The number of Nigerians who have enrolled their biometrics for the national identification number (NIN) has reached 75.36 million, as of February 21, according to official government statistics, with 44 percent of the digital ID registrants said to be women.

The figures from the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), spotted by The Guardian, indicate that 32.8 million of those enrolled are female while the rest of the 42.5 million are male, for a percentage of 56.

The number of those enrolled for the digital ID was put at 70 million in December 2021.

According to the latest statistics revealed on NIMC’s data dashboard, the State of Lagos leads the park of cumulative NIN registrations with 8.7 million. The other nine States which make up the top ten are Kano, Kaduna, Oyo, Ogun, The Federal Capital Territory (not a State), Rivers, Katsina, Delta and Borno, in that order.

On the bottom-rung of the enrollment, the statistics indicate, are the States of Akwa Ibom, Imo, Zamfara, Enugu, Yobe, Taraba, Ekiti, Cross River, Ebonyi and Bayelsa.

In terms of registrants in the diaspora, The Guardian indicates that just under one hundred thousand persons have enrolled for the NIN, with similar gender ratios to overall enrollment.

The NIMC said last year that it hopes to reach 200 million citizens with the NIN which is also being linked with SIM cards at the moment in a drive that started off in December 2020. The pace of 5 million registrants over the past two months for the digital ID aligns with the 30 million Professor Isa Pantami, minister of Communications and Digital Economy, said had signed up within the past year, despite funding and other challenges. At 30 million registrations per year Nigeria would reach its NIN coverage goal in or around the end of 2025.

The pace has been boosted by the participation of telecoms to assist with linking the national digital ID to SIM registrations ahead of a deadline which was pushed from 2021 to the end of March, 2022.

Days ago, VerifyMe Nigeria released a report in which it dissects the digital ID landscape in Nigerian and makes proposals on how to speed up NIN and eID adoption. It also outlines some of the benefits which digital ID expansion will bring to the country.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometric data  |  biometric enrollment  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  government services  |  identity management  |  national ID  |  National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)  |  National Identity Number (NIN)  |  Nigeria