Will NIN solve identity management issues?

In these instances, it is just the number the enrollee is issued.While the NIN records are in the National Identity Database (NIDB), attaining the 60 million has not been easy, as many Nigerians, in the last eight months, were made to go through various harrowing experiences, registering and linking their NINs to their SIMs, especially having had to queue several hours daily for the exercise, at a time COVID-19 raged fiercely.The citizens’ challenges were made worse by the inability of the majority of the 203 Federal Government licensed registration firms to commence the exercise, owing to lack of funds and logistics.However, as at July 24th, 2021, there were over 5,500 enrolment locations within and outside the country, expected to significantly ease the NIN enrolment process and subsequent linkage of NIN to SIM.With more numbers of enrolment centres within and outside the country, and many more coming up, the NIMC said every citizen, legal resident, and Nigerian citizens living in diaspora are expected to be able to obtain their NINs in the shortest foreseeable time.

Reports have it that residents of Katsina, Zamfara and Kaduna states that recounted their experiences in kidnappers’ dens, said they made the bandits’ telephone numbers available to security agents.They, however, lamented that nothing was done to apprehend the criminals, thus making a mess of the Federal Government’s directives on registration of telephone subscribers and the linkage of SIM with the NIN.Besides, digital footprints of electronic fraudsters are still very much everywhere in the country, the NIN seems not to be effective in this area.Nonetheless, the NIN is having impact on the education sector.

About 60m unique NIN issuedAfter shifting registration deadline from December 30, 2020 to October 31, 2021, by the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, led by the Minister, Dr.

Isa Pantami, the NIMC has focused significantly on the NIN, and thus far issued over 60 million NINs to Nigerians, with average of three to four SIMs per NIN linked.NIMC had explained that it chose to concentrate on enrolling Nigerians and legal residents and issuing the NIN over a physical plastic electronic ID owing to the high cost of the latter, given the country’s current economic challenges.

Identity management as a World Bank projectNigeria’s national digital identity ecosystem project is World Bank supported; thereby underlining the importance of the project, for the economic management of the over 200 million population of the country – where planning and budgeting form key planks for growth.

NIN, ghost identities and bandits’ reignNIN’s impact on security challenges in Nigeria remains minute, despite many Nigerians having to queue in the scorching sun for days for registration during the pandemic.Today, assaults by criminals on the public remain huge..

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