Digital ID issuance platform for Nigerians abroad gets upgrade

Nigerians living abroad are now able to access National Identification Number (NIN) services in a seamless, robust, more secure, and efficient manner.

This follows the recent upgrade of the platform that enables the delivery of the NIN service, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) said in an announcement.

“To ensure effective service delivery and smooth management of the National Identification Number (NIN) enrolment in the Diaspora, the National Identity Management Commission has successfully upgraded its diaspora enrolment platform,” a part of the announcement reads.

At the time of the announcement, the NIMC said it had onboarded all Diaspora Front-End Partners (FEPs) to the upgraded platform, and had organized “intensive training to equip the FEPs with the prerequisite knowledge on the application and effective management of the new system.”

As soon as the renewed system went live, the NIMC stated that all diaspora FEPs had up to 48 hours to obtain and activate their NIN enrollment licences, and that only compliant partners would be able to provide NIN services to users.

The NIMC regretted “any inconvenience the platform upgrade process might have caused” and mentioned the setting up of “a dedicated service team to resolve all issues related to diaspora enrollment.”

In July, Nigerians at home complained of difficulties in accessing NIN services digitally, especially the NIN authentication platform, but the ID authority said the system had been stabilized.

The ID agency also urged citizens both at home and abroad, who have not yet downloaded the NINAuth platform, to do so, in order to easily access digital ID authentication services without having to move a muscle.

The NIMC also recently onboarded telcos so they can offer NIN verification for SM card services.

As of May, the NIMC said 120 million NINs had been issued, and the body plans to reach about 95 percent of Nigerians with the digital ID by December, according to Channels TV.

In related news, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) disclosed early this month that the number of Bank Verification Number (BVN) holders has continued to increase, with the figure reaching 66.2 million last month.

Nairametrics reports that the increase means about 2.7 million new BVNs were issued between January and July this year. The Central Bank of Nigeria made the BVN mandatory for bank account holders as part of efforts to strengthen bank account security and curb fraud.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital ID  |  National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)  |  National Identity Number (NIN)  |  Nigeria