The National Identity Management Commission has identified over 6,000 Nigerians registered on its database with the National Identification Number.
This was as President Bola Tinubu directed an inter-ministerial committee to ensure comprehensive data for the National Social Register for the Federal Government’s social investment programmes.
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The minister reportedly affirmed that the NINs were withdrawn from the illegal holders in an ongoing database clean-up.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 neighbouring countries such as Niger Republic, to obtain Nigerian NIN.
Investigations revealed that such fraudulent registrations occurred in border communities, further heightening the risk of unauthorised access to Nigerian identity credentials.
The NIMC enrols 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 centralised system to verify personal identity for various governmental and private transactions.
Sources at the Presidency told our correspondent that President 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.
The humanitarian ministry needs the data for its social register to perform its function. Also, the education ministry needs that data for student loans. The President doesn’t want to disburse money to people they cannot identify. They (NIMC) are ensuring that they verify the data. They are also registering more Nigerians and fine-tuning the data. So, the President wants it done quickly.”
The source revealed that after the briefing, the President asked the national security adviser and the interior minister to join an existing panel overseeing the humanitarian ministry.
Recall that while announcing the suspension of the former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, on January 7, 2024, Tinubu asked a panel headed by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance to, among other functions, “conduct a comprehensive diagnostic on the financial architecture and framework of the social investment programmes to conclusively reform the relevant institutions and programmes in a determined bid to eliminate all institutional frailties for the exclusive benefit of disadvantaged households and win back lost public confidence in the initiative.”
On January 12, the President suspended all Social Investment Programmes administered by the National Social Investment Programme Agency, including the school feeding programme, for six weeks.
A day later, he approved the establishment of a Special Presidential Panel to be led by Mr Wale Edun.
The SPP included the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance as Chairman, and the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, as a member.
