The National Identity Management Commission has identified over 6,000 Nigeriens 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The minister reportedly affirmed that the NINs were withdrawn from the illegal holders in an ongoing database clean-up.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.
Other members are the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu; the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Muhammad Idris; Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijjani; and the Minister of Youth, Ayodele Olawande.
The panel now includes the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu; the Interior Minister, Tunji-Ojo; the Education Minister, Tunji Alausa; and the Humanitarian Affairs Minister, Dr Nentawe Yilwatda.
Another source at Tuesday’s FEC meeting said, “It is an inter-ministerial committee; the President asked the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and the Minister of Interior to join. The National Security Adviser is also on that committee. The interior minister is there because, you know, NIMC is under him.”
Giving further context to the developments, the Director-General of NIMC, Bisoye Coker-Odusote, said the agency was working to ensure transparency and accuracy in government payments, particularly for humanitarian purposes.
In a phone interview with our correspondent on Friday, she said, “There is a presidential panel for the humanitarian ministry. If you recall, when the former minister left, they set up an interim panel. So the Minister of Interior and the others have been added to that panel to ensure that they can use the NIN to make payments for humanitarian ministry so that the NIN can be used to ensure accuracy and transparency.
“This literally means that the people collecting money are not ghost beneficiaries, they’re real people, and they’re identifiable. So, you have to use a verifiable set of records to identify them, and that’s where NIMC comes into play using the NIN.
“It will save the country a lot of money if you can tie NIN and identify those beneficiaries. That way, everything is transparent. Nigerians can see that the government has made the right choice and has paid the people that receive the money. The people that really need the money are the ones that get the money.”
Coker-Odusote added that the data clean-up would ensure accurate and verifiable details on the National Social Register.
“The National Social Register under humanitarian [ministry] houses the names of all the beneficiaries they want to pay.
“Now, you have to be able to verify the identities on those social registers, which means they must have a NIN for you to be able to make your payment.
“That way, you just ensure people don’t put fictitious names on the list. You’re able to make sure you verify the identities of those people. Once you’re able to verify the identity, you can make payments,” she added.
The NIMC DG clarified that recent reports about SIM registration concerns stemmed from the telecommunication companies, which had been rectified.
“What has been in the news about NIN-SIM linkage is from the telcos’ end. The telcos have more than one number for each person.
“So, they had an issue, a glitch on their end, and they corrected it already. It has nothing to do with NIMC. We don’t collect more than one phone number,” she stated.
As of the time of filing this report, the spokesperson for the Nigeria Immigration Service, Mr Sola Akinlabi, declined to comment on the issue.
Security experts argue that undocumented foreigners holding a NIN is not new, adding that the tide will continue if there is no political will to stem it.
An expert, Brig. Gen. Aliyu Momoh (retd.), said, “There is nothing new in what is happening in the country. Our borders are porous. But the political will is what is lacking.
“Everywhere you go in some northern states, you see many non-Nigerians moving freely without documentation. Can Nigerians do that in Chad or Cameroon? No! Can you walk in Niger Republic without your papers as a Nigerian?
“However, because of socio-cultural and religious factors, there has not been much action taken for several years now. But I will give it to the current leadership, both of the President Bola Tinubu and the Service Chiefs. There is so much to be done. But we must give it to them.”
