The Director-General/CEO of the National Identity Management Commission, Mrs. Abisoye Coker-Odusote, announced that the Commission has successfully reduced extortion and corruption in the National Identification Number enrollment process by at least 40%.

Speaking at a media briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, Coker-Odusote revealed that the NIMC has enrolled 120 million Nigerians into the NIN database since the project’s inception.

“We have reduced incidents of extortion and corruption by at least 40%. While the process is ongoing, we’ve made significant progress,” the DG said.

The DG of NIMC, explained that the Commission’s collaboration with the World Bank under the Nigeria Identification for Development project has been instrumental in boosting enrollment numbers.

She also noted that enrollment is continuing in both urban and rural areas, with the target of registering more Nigerians by the end of 2025.

“We have enrolled many Nigerians and are still counting. We will continue our efforts to ensure more Nigerians are captured before year-end,” Coker-Odusote said.

According to her, a major highlight of the partnership with the World Bank is the involvement of the private sector through the Frontier Partners scheme, which allows private agents to support nationwide NIN registration.

“They [Frontier Partners] work with us by going into communities to enroll Nigerians. This integration of the private sector has helped us scale significantly,” she said.

Coker-Odusote mentioned that the Commission has created job opportunities across the country by equipping state and local government offices with upgraded facilities and training personnel to facilitate NIN registration and modification.

“There are well-trained NIMC staff available to assist with enrollment and modifications, using the latest application tools,” she said.

She also mentioned updates to the NIN pricing framework, where some fees were lowered, others were eliminated, and a few were increased to better reflect the cost of service delivery.

The DG highlighted the introduction of several digital platforms to simplify access and reduce physical queues.

These, she said, include online pre-enrollment and biometric capture; a modification platform that allows users to update personal records after relocating; and the Self-Assist Platform, which enables users to log in with biometric data to modify or update records securely, in compliance with cybersecurity and data protection standards.

The NIMC NIN Authentication App allows users greater control over their data by connecting it to the Commission’s backend systems.

It also adds an extra layer of security to the identity verification process.