Sequel to the capturing of about 54 million Nigerians by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), there are indications that the Federal Government may extend the National Identity Number (NIN) registration till June 30.
A presidential committee has recommended the extension following a huge success recorded in the last nine months, according to a reliable source, who hinted that an announcement on the deadline will be made anytime from now by the NIMC after approval by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The NIN registration was said to have been introduced by the Federal to check growing security concerns as well as activities of fraudsters and criminals operating on the cyberspace.
It was further learnt that the government might also lift the ban on new SIM registration but with new software to curtail proxy registration.
“I think the government may extend the deadline for NIN registration to June 30 because a Presidential Committee has come up with an advisory on it for the government. We are hopeful that President Muhammadu Buhari will accept the advisory of the committee before NIMC makes appropriate announcement.
“The truth is that since September 2020 when the NIN registration became compulsory, it has become a major revolution which this nation has recorded in the last 61 years of its independence. It is an exercise that requires a lot of courage and political will. Therefore, the backlash is expected.
“There has also been a remarkable increase in the number of enrolment centres across the country with about 3,800 centres available for enrolments. There are also many more new centres in the pipeline. We are getting closer to a comprehensive database in a manner that if any Nigerian commits a crime, he is easily traceable.
“As at April 30, NIMC has about 54 million records in the National Identity Database. The current number of monthly enrolments has increased significantly to about 2.6 million. On NIN-SIM linkage, a total of 56.18 million NINs have been collected by the mobile network operators. Each NIN is usually tied to an average of three to four SIMs”, a source remarked.
