Enrolment for the National Identification Number (NIN) rose to 85.59 million as of July 7, 2022. This is according to the latest data released by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
This shows an increase of 2.86 million in enrolments when compared with the 82.73 million recorded as of May 26.
In terms of gender distribution, the NIMC data reveals that 48 million, representing 56% of Nigerians so far captured in the NIN database are male, while 37.52 million, representing 44% are female.
According to the statistics, Lagos State has so far recorded the highest number of enrolments in the country with 9.73 million Nigerians captured in the State. This was followed by Kano State, which recorded 7.3 million registered NIN.
Other states that made the top ten in terms of number of enrolments include Kaduna with 5 million; Ogun with 3.5 million; Oyo with 3.4 million; FCT with 3 million; Katsina with 2.8 million; Rivers with 2.6 million; Delta with 2.3 million; and Niger with 2.2 million.
NIMC data shows that the 10 states with the lowest NIN issued are Imo 1.4 million; Zamfara 1.4 million; Enugu 1.4 million; Abia 1.3 million; Yobe 1.2 million; Taraba 1.2 million; Cross River 978,063; Ekiti 939,302; Ebonyi 689,555; and Bayelsa 552,597.
In terms of regional distribution of the enrolments, North West has 26%; South West 25%; North Central 17%; North East 12%; South-South 12% and South East 8%.
Nigeria had for years struggled to create a credible national database through the NIN without success. However, with the new government’s policy introduced in December 2020 mandating all mobile subscribers to link their SIM with NIN, many Nigerians are being forced to enrol for the national number.
To address the infrastructure limitations of NIMC, which had slowed the process for years, several companies, including the telecommunications operators, were licensed to act as enrolment agents.
The government’s directive in April this year made telecom operators bar outgoing calls from telephone lines not linked, affecting about 75 million.
To bring back those whose telephone lines were blocked, telecom operators have been wooing their customers with different offers to encourage them to register and link their lines.
Globacom, for instance, introduced ‘Glo NIN Offer.’ The company noted that the “Glo NIN Offer is a one-time bonus offer that applies only to customers who were barred from making outgoing calls on the Glo network as directed by regulatory authorities due to NIN non-compliance.”
Once subscribers link their NIN to their SIMs, they will get a N20, 000 bonus which can be used to call, browse and text on the network.
Also, Airtel has called on affected subscribers to re-link their lines and get N20,000 free airtime and data credit.
