After establishing that the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) could not continue the production of physical Identity cards for Nigerians due to paucity of funds, the Director-General of the NIMC has stated that the commission would focus more on issuing the National Identification Number (NIN) to Nigerians, emphasizing that the number is what has more significance.
During a press conference in Abuja, organised to announce the 4th International Annual Meeting of the ID4Africa 2018 Movement being hosted by Nigeria, the NIMC Director-General, Aliyu Aziz, stated that in order for the Commission to issue as many cards as it could, it was issuing the cards on a first come first served basis.
Aziz also pointed out that the available cards were for those registered in 2012 and 2013. He also stated that the cards were of the best quality but couldn’t be mass produced due to the shortage of funds.
“The focus is actually on the National Identification Number. Your NIN gives you your identity and not the card. Historically, we focused ourselves on the card to be the output of what we do; but when the country went into recession, we stepped back and checked and found out that in the United States, it is the Social Security Number that connects all the other agencies.
“Recently in Nigeria, we did the Bank Verification Number; and again, what you get is a number and not a BVN card. However, this does not mean that we won’t give out cards, because it is there in the law that we should issue a general multipurpose card that is secure.”
The Director-General indicated that the Commission was going to focus more attention on instituting the National Identification Number as the legal means of identification instead of the physical identity cards. He explained that this was to enable the facilitation of the use of the identification system so as to make sure the system doesn’t waste.
The Social Security number (SSN) is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary (working) residents under section 205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act, codified as 42 U.S.C. 405(c)(2). The number is issued to an individual by the Social Security Administration, an independent agency of the United States government. Although its primary purpose is to track individuals for Social Security purposes, the Social Security number has become a de facto national identification number for taxation and other purposes.
In the US system, more emphasis is placed on the number than on a physical representation and all facts about all SSN numbers are stored in an online database that can be accessed remotely from any location for official reasons.
National Insurance Number is used in the administration of the National Insurance or social security system. It is also used for some purposes in the UK tax system. The number is described by the United Kingdom government as a “personal account number”. Also, in this case, the emphasis is placed on the number and not on a physical representation.
According to the General Manager, Legal, Regulatory and Compliance Services, NIMC, Hadiza Ali-Dagabana, the commission is working hard to commence a more robust nationwide enrolment exercise from July this year, and once that is achieved, the NIN would be fully implemented across the country.
She, however, pointed out that the Commission would penalize any institution or organization in the Country that refuses to accept the cards as means of identification when they eventually start issuing cards.
How to Register for National Identification Number (NIN) and Card
1. Click on www.ninenrol.gov.ng which leads to the National Identification Number (NIN) pre-registration portal
2. Create a National Identification Number (NIN) enrolment profile
3. Sign into the National Identification Number (NIN) pre-registration portal www.ninenrol.gov.ng and fill in biodata
4. Print out the pre-registration slip gotten from www.ninenrol.gov.ng and take to the nearest enrolment Centre.
5. At the enrolment Centre, the enrolment officer scans barcode to pull up the applicant data.
6. Applicant verifies his/her data and has his/her photograph, finger print captured
7. Applicant has his supporting documents scanned
8. Enrolment is acknowledged and a slip is generated and given indicating completion of enrolment
