By Pathfinder Reporter
Saturday February 8, 2025
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The National Identity Management Commission has identified over 6,000 Nigeriens registered on its database with the National Identification Number.
Impeccable sources in the Presidency told Saturday PUNCH that the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, briefed the Federal Executive Council on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, on the activities of NIMC, an agency under his purview.
The minister reportedly affirmed that the NINs were withdrawn from the illegal holders in an ongoing database clean-up.
On October 13, 2022, the Defence Headquarters in Abuja said troops, in conjunction with the Nigeria Police and operatives of the Nigeria Immigration Service, intercepted two suspected fake NIMC officials.
The Director of Defence Media Operations at the time, Maj.-Gen. Musa Danmadami, in a statement, said, “It was revealed that the suspects had visited the Gagamari IDP camp in the Niger Republic to register non-Nigerians in the IDP camp.
“Items recovered from the suspects include National Identification Number registration machine, printing machine, laminating machine, a computer tracking machine and a generator set among other items.”
The fake agents were reportedly charging non-Nigerian citizens, primarily from neighboring countries such as Niger Republic, to obtain Nigerian NIN.
Investigations revealed that such fraudulent registrations occurred in border communities, further heightening the risk of unauthorized access to Nigerian identity credentials.
The NIMC enrolls citizens and legal residents, assigning them a unique NIN.
The 11-digit number is tied to an individual’s biometric and demographic data, providing a centralized system to verify personal identity for various governmental and private transactions.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu directed an inter-ministerial committee to ensure comprehensive data for the National Social Register for the Federal Government’s social investment programs.
According to sources at the Presidency, Tinubu wanted the existing database to reflect the details of the most vulnerable Nigerians who needed social interventions such as conditional cash transfers and student loans.
A source said, “It was the Minister of Interior that gave that briefing because, you know, NIMC is under him.
“The interior minister said NIMC is tidying up the database because they found over 6,000 people from Niger Republic who obtained NIN. But they have been wiped from the database.
Giving further context to the developments, the Director-General of NIMC, Bisoye Coker-Odusote, said the agency was working to ensure transparency and accuracy in government payments, particularly for humanitarian purposes.
In a phone interview with our correspondent on Friday, she said, “There is a presidential panel for the humanitarian ministry. If you recall, when the former minister left, they set up an interim panel. So the Minister of Interior and the others have been added to that panel to ensure that they can use the NIN to make payments for humanitarian ministry so that the NIN can be used to ensure accuracy and transparency.
“This means that the people collecting money are not ghost beneficiaries, they’re real people, and they’re identifiable. So, you have to use a verifiable set of records to identify them, and that’s where NIMC comes into play using the NIN.
“It will save the country a lot of money if you can tie NIN and identify those beneficiaries.
That way, everything is transparent. Nigerians can see that the government has made the right choice and has paid the people who receive the money. The people that need the money are the ones that get the money.”
Coker-Odusote added that the data clean-up would ensure accurate and verifiable details on the National Social Register.
“The National Social Register under humanitarian [ministry] houses the names of all the beneficiaries they want to pay.
“Now, you have to be able to verify the identities on those social registers, which means they must have a NIN for you to be able to make your payment.
“That way, you just ensure people don’t put fictitious names on the list. You’re able to make sure you verify the identities of those people. Once you’re able to verify the identity, you can make payments,” she added.
The NIMC DG clarified that recent reports about SIM registration concerns stemmed from the telecommunication companies, which had been rectified.
“What has been in the news about NIN-SIM linkage is from the telcos’ end. The telcos have more than one number for each person.
“So, they had an issue, a glitch on their end, and they corrected it already. It has nothing to do with NIMC. We don’t collect more than one phone number,” she stated.
Punch
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