Users lament as Nigeria’s digital ID portal suffers downtime

In the past weeks, many holders of Nigeria’s National Identification Number (NIN) have complaint about their inability to access the digital ID portal for modification, verification and authentication services.

The complaints were rife before July 2 with many NIN holders expressing their frustration and asking the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to fix the problem as soon as possible.

On July 2, the NIMC sent a message announcing that the downtime issues had been resolved and that service was fully restored.

The ID authority said “recent technical maintenance has been completed and all services have been restored.” It added that while ID enrollment was available again on its website, NIN modification services could be accessed on the self-service platform, while the NINAuth app could be downloaded for NIN authentication needs.

One user commenting on the NIMC’s announcement on X said their NIN modification request finally went through after “weeks of stress, delays, and pure frustration,” adding that “this moment means more than words.”

Other users, however, posted screenshots of their unsuccessful online NIN operations, with some of them wondering when the problem will be effectively resolved despite the NIMC’s announcement that everything was okay.

A user posted a message on July 4 (two days after the announcement by NIMC), saying: “I am currently at one of the MTN Connect Stores, and I’ve been informed that the NIN server is still down. Could you kindly clarify why this is the case, especially given that the scheduled maintenance was reportedly completed over 24 hours ago?”

Another user also complained: “NIMC Nigeria, despite the maintenance efforts, the network is still down. Can you please look into this further and provide an estimated time for when the network will be stable again? Many users are relying on your services and this prolonged downtime is causing inconvenience.”

Las year, some Nigerians also complained of NIN modification challenges.

Some of the NIN holders said with the recent downtime, they have had difficulties obtaining the virtual NIN for their banking operations, while others complained of being able to access services like SIM card registration which requires the NIN.

We have reached out to the NIMC for an update on the situation.

Meanwhile, these hassles come as the NIMC Director General and CEO, Abisoye-Coker Odusote, is celebrating two years in the role.

In a message posted on X, the ID authority said, among her achievements, Odusote had taken the number of NIN enrollments to 120 million as of July, deployed more than 800 mobile ID enrollment devices, expanded enrollment points in the diaspora, as well as streamlined the ID enrollment process, rendering it faster and more convenient.

Some of the reforms she has undertaken, as mentioned by the NIMC, include comprehensive capacity building for staff to ensure optimized productivity, settlement of outstanding debts to front-end partners, a call for licence revalidation to streamline enrolment processes, and the expansion of the national identity database capacity from 100 million to 250 million.

Article Topics

Africa  |  identity management  |  national ID  |  National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)  |  National Identity Number (NIN)  |  Nigeria