Nigeria adds 1M digital IDs as efforts to meet new target advance

Nigeria’s National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has released National Identification Number (NIN) figures for March, indicating that almost a million digital IDs were issued in the course of that month.

According to information on the ID authority’s enrollment dashboard, 118.4 million digital IDs were issued as of March 31, with the State of Lagos still leading the park in terms of most enrollments nationally. The new figure is up from the 17.3 million which the NIMC reported at the end of February.

Lagos is on top of the chart with 12.6 million enrollments, while Kano State has 10.4 million and Kaduna 6.9 million, the NIMC dashboard indicates. The figures also show there are more registered male Nigerians (66.9 million) as against 51.5 million females.

While the NIN issuance last month appears impressive, there are fears about the country meeting a new issuance benchmark set by the World Bank when it restructured its funding arrangement for the digital ID project last year. The initial target was to enroll 148 million citizens by June 30 2024.

However, per the new arrangement, the country is now required to issue 180 million NINs by December 31, 2026. This means that between now and then, a period of 21 months, the NIMC must deliver 62 million digital IDs to meet the target.

In the past months, the Nigerian government, via the NIMC and its partners, has been deploying measures to step up NIN issuance in the country.

One of these measures in an ongoing move by the National Assembly to make digital ID registration mandatory for citizens. The bill which seeks to amend the NIMC Act 2007 scaled second reading in the Senate last month. There is also a similar move to make ID enrollment mandatory for foreigners living in the country.

Nigeria is also engaged in a number of reform processes, including the strengthening of the country’s identity management framework, as part of the conditions to ensure continuous disbursement of funds by financial partners for the digital ID project.

The total funding dedicated to the project is $430 million provided through a tripartite arrangement involving the World Bank, the French Development Agency and the European Investment Bank.

In a meeting reported in February, stakeholders proposed ways through Nigeria can expand its digital ID issuance in an inclusive manner.

The country’s IT agency also recently released draft technical standards for DPI implementation, for public comment

Meanwhile, as NIN issuance efforts continue, ID fraudsters are not sleeping. They’ve been fooling NIN holders to disclose their ID numbers for monetary compensation, information which is then used by these fraudsters for nefarious aims.

In the wake of this, the MINC has warned has urged all NIN holders to keep their eyes peeled, as Punch reports.

The caution from the ID authority follows complaints from the State of Anambra who have fallen prey to the bad actors.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital ID  |  identity management  |  national ID  |  National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)  |  National Identity Number (NIN)  |  Nigeria  |  World Bank