Nigeria facilitates student loans with G2P biometric card as NIN enrollment passes 117M

Nigeria has reported new progress in the issuance of the National Identification Number (NIN) with the figure now above 117.3 million, as of February. This announcement was made recently by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), which has also concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for issuance of the recently announced multipurposed biometric card to students for a loans scheme.

According to information on the NIMC dashboard, the number of unique NIN enrollment records as of February 28, stands at 117,361,324, with the State of Lagos having the highest cumulative figure of 12.6 million.

The dashboard information also shows that of the 117 million registrants, 56.5 percent of them are male, corresponding to 66.2 million people, while 43.5 percent, representing 51 million persons, are female.

While Lagos State tops the log with 12.6 million digital IDs issued, the States of Kano (10.2 million), Kaduna (6.9 million), Ogun (4.9 million), and Oyo (4.5 million) complete the top five states with the most enrollments.

Nigeria’s ongoing digital ID enrollment project was recently revised by the World Bank with a new target for the country to issue at least 180 digital IDs by December 2026.

G2P cards to streamline student loans scheme

Sometime last year, the NIMC announced plans to introduce a new multipurpose card with several benefits summed up under three key functions, one of which is the social inclusion aspect to facilitate Government-to-People (G2P) payments.

In January, the NIMC said the launch of the card was imminent, and highlighted that it will greatly drive economic growth and financial inclusion in the country.

As part of the development, the NIMC has now signed an MoU with the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), to begin issuance of the cards to students to streamline the processing of student loans and other administrative transactions, writes Nigeria Communication Week.

Going by the terms of the MoU, the biometric payment card will enable students access their financial assistance packages without necessarily waiting for bank transfers into their accounts. They could use the card at ATMs, POS machines, mobile and even web-based payments platforms for different services.

The Director General of NIMC, Abisoye Coker-Odusote said after the signing of the MoU, as quoted, that “the biometric-enabled cards are unique in promoting digital and financial inclusion because of the layers of features in them.”

“They cannot be forged or faked. They have features that make cash available in students’ wallets, the students can easily access their allowances, buy books and make transfers without waiting for banks. The cards operate online and offline,” she said.

NELFUND Managing Director, Akintunde Sawyerr, also praised the NIMC for the initiative, stating that it will greatly simplify identity verification for students and how they access loans and other services related to their academic journey.

Early this year, the NIMC also said it was working on a plan to link the NIN with the student ID card in order to streamline the ID verification for administrative purposes.

Article Topics

Africa  |  digital ID  |  General Multipurpose Card (GMPC)  |  identity management  |  National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)  |  National Identity Number (NIN)  |  Nigeria  |  student ID