About 90 million people in Nigeria have registered for National Identification Numbers (NINs), according to Isa Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, who made the announcement on Friday.
At the time of his appointment in August 2019, just 40 million people had registered for the NIN, according to Pantami, who made this statement at a gathering in Abuja to commemorate the nation’s fourth Identity Day.
He continued by saying that due to the Federal Government’s implementation of the procedure, the figure rose to roughly 90 million.
The minister said: “Looking back from three years ago, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) had managed under challenging conditions, to achieve an enrollment figure of nearly 90 million for the country
“NIMC could not have achieved this quantum leap without the support and encouragement of Mr. President, who also gave approval for the improved condition of service for staff of the commission. Of course, it was Mr. President who gave approval for September 16 to become an Identity Day for Nigeria.
“That underscores his commitment to national digital identity to ensure digital inclusion for all citizens.
“While we celebrate the achievements that Nigeria has recorded in the digital space and especially in digital identification, in the last few years under President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, we are however, mindful of the gaps remaining to be filled for us to ensure that every citizen of Nigeria and every legal resident in our country is enrolled and issued the NIN.
“Our country has key and critical roles to play in mediating, stimulating, mobilising and rallying our people, in the rural, semi-urban and even urban areas, to embrace enrolment to obtain their NIN.
“While traditional rulers and our monarchs are the custodians of the traditional institutions in the homelands, all of us who are in the cities are from one rural area, one community or the other; and, our respect for our traditional rulers remains unshakeable.”
The federal government had in 2020 ordered the mobile telecommunication operators to block the Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs) that were not linked to NIN by December 31.
The deadline was extended severally before the government early this year directed the mobile service providers to bar calls from unlinked phone lines from April 4.
