NIN CARD
Since February 2022, Nigerians in Wales have been able to register for their National Identification Number (NIN) in the Cardiff Office of Africa Welsh News. The initial idea was to bring the program to Cardiff for a week in February. Africa Welsh News reached an agrrement with Afritech, a company based in London, to come in and use the company's Cardiff bay office to register as many people as possible who wished to have their NIN.
However not as many people as envisaged signed on to the program as some were sceptical that the project was not for real. Was it a scheme to reap people off? How reliable could this registration program be?
Olu Oni, a director at Africa Welsh News, said “the reason the organisation agreed to have Afritech come to our Cardiff office was because we wanted to bring this closer to the people that need this service. It was meant to be for a few days but as there are Nigerians living all over Wales, some of whom have not heard the service is available in Wales, we decided to let it keep running and see what the turn out will be like”. So far, more than 70 Nigerians have been to our office to register. We have had people in from Swansea, Newport, Treforrest and Caerphilly.
The National Identification number (NIN) is mandatory for any Nigerian citizen in Nigeria or legal residents living in Nigeria. It is also mandatory for Nigerians inn Diaspora to enrol for their NIN’s. The (NIN) is the unique number which identifies a person and it is issued by NIMC after your enrolment.
Once registered, a persons NIN is used to match you with your biometric data and other details in the National Identity Database during verification and authentication.
The NIN is set to be used for all transactions in Nigeria requiring identity verification so you’ll be using your NIN for
- obtaining your National e-ID card
- travel (international passport application & acquisition)
- opening personal bank accounts
- getting your driver’s license
- obtaining your Permanent Voters’ Card
- participating in the National Health Insurance Scheme
- payment of your taxes
- transactions related to your contributory pension scheme
- access to welfare and other relevant services from the Nigerian Government
- transactions with social security implications
- land transactions subject to the Land Use Act
- any other transactions NIMC may so prescribe and list in the Federal Government Gazette
NIMC is engaged in harmonization and integration of data with various agencies across Nigeria who deal with the various services above to ensure smooth coordination of activities.
- The National Identification Number (NIN) consists of 11 non-intelligible numbers randomly chosen and assigned to an individual at the completion of enrolment into the National Identity Database (NIDB).
- Once a NIN is assigned to an individual, it can never be reassigned, given or used by another person – that makes it unique in nature.
- In the case of the demise of an individual, his/her NIN is retired once a death certificate is presented to the Commission and the individual’s death is established.
- The NIN is used to tie all records about an individual in the database and is also used to establish or verify his/her identity.
- All citizens and legal residents in Nigeria, from age zero (birth) and above are eligible to enrol for their NINs.
- The NIN should be closely guarded by individuals and not revealed to all and sundry except to relevant authorities when requested (for instance it shouldn’t be disclosed online over social media and should not be printed along with contact details on business cards or other office stationery).
