May 10, 2024

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) says it has so far captured over 107.3 million persons in the ongoing National Identity Number (NIN) enrolment.

The Director-General, NIMC, Mrs Abisoye Coker-Odusote said this at the Maiden Media Interactive Session of the Commission on Friday in Abuja.

Coker-Odusote said there was need to fast track the enrolment process to capture more people into the national identity database.

“An increase in the enrolment rate will help to reduce the processing time for enrolees.

“Obtaining NIN should be as minimal as possible because the system has been upgraded, and the capacity is not that bad.

“We are working on increasing the capacity that we have, we are trying to increase it from 100million to 250million, the process will take us a minimum of between 6 months and 9 months,” she said.

She said the commission had equipped all its enrolment centres, saying however that most of the equipment were outdated, as the systems were acquired as far back as 2011.

The DG said that although the equipment were donated to the commission, the number of equipment donated were minimal compared to what was required.

She said that Nigerians would have to pay a certain amount of money to access the New General Multipurpose National Identity Card through their finance institutions.

Odusote also said that although NIN was free, the card would not be issued free of charge.

“It is just like how you pay to access your ATM cards in the banks, Nigerians will pay through the banks to access their cards within 48 hours after payment to get the digital multipurpose card.

“Application for the card will be based on request with individuals getting their NIN through self-service online portal or through the banks and the applicants will have to pay through the banks to acquire the card.

“The proposed general multipurpose National Identity Card will be convenient, and it eliminates the need for multiple cards,” she said.

She said that the cards had multiple use and can be used for payments/financial, government intervention/services, and travel.

The DG said that NIMC was also working with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System to ensure hitch-free roll out of the cards.

“Applicants for the card will have to request with their NIN through the self-service online portal, NIMC offices, or their respective banks

“The card will be issued through the applicants’ respective banks in line with existing protocols with the issuance of the debit/credit cards.

“The card can be picked up by holders at the designated center or delivered to the applicants at the requested location at an extra cost to be borne by the applicants,” she said.

Coker-Odusote said the commission was in partnership with Nigeria Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Limited and Galaxy Backbone to access efficient access to internet connectivity to the 774 Local Government Areas ( LGAs) of the country.(NAN)