The Federal Government of Nigeria, through the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), has disclosed that the number of National Identity Number(NIN) enrollments has increased to 104.16 million at the end of 2023. The numbers reveal a 10.77 per cent increase from the 94.03 million recorded as of December 2022. This signifies that only 10.13 million Nigerians registered for NIN in 2023. A monthly average of enrolments reveals that 844,167 Nigerians got NIN per month in 2023.
According to the recently released data by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC),530,345 Nigerians in Diaspora have gotten NINs. 59.12 million male and 45.04 million female Nigerians now have NINs. Also, according to the recent NIMC data, Lagos State maintained the top spot by recording the highest number of enrolments in the country, with 11.42 million Nigerians captured in the State. This was followed by Kano State, which recorded 9.19 million, Kaduna 6.45 million, Ogun 4.41 million, and Oyo 4.04 million registered NINs.
The bottom ten states for enrolments in descending order are Kwara with 1.77 million, Akwa-Ibom with 1.76 million, Kogi with 1.73 million, Enugu with 1.67 million, Yobe with 1.65 million, Taraba (1.49 million), Cross-River (1.19 million), Ekiti (1.03 million), Ebonyi (839,506), and Bayelsa (657,484).
Despite a World Bank target of 148 million by June 2024, less than six months from now, registration for the NIN has been slow; however, with the recent appointment of a new Director-General, Engr. Abisoye Coker-Odusote, NIMC said it has started working to accelerate the issuance of the digital identity token in line with the renewed hope mandate of President Bola Tinubu's administration.
