The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has uncovered over 6,000 Nigerians illegally registered in its database with the National Identification Number (NIN), prompting a widespread clean-up of the system.
This revelation comes as President Bola Tinubu directed an inter-ministerial committee to ensure a comprehensive and accurate National Social Register for the Federal Government’s social investment programmes.
Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, briefed the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on February 4, 2025, on the fraudulent registrations and ongoing database sanitization efforts. The illegally acquired NINs had been withdrawn from the database as part of the clean-up initiative.
Concerns over the illegal registration of foreigners were first raised in October 2022, when the Defence Headquarters in Abuja disclosed that troops, in conjunction with the Nigeria Police and the Nigeria Immigration Service, arrested two suspected fake NIMC officials attempting to register non-Nigerians in border communities.
At the time, Maj.-Gen. Musa Danmadami, who served as the Director of Defence Media Operations, confirmed the arrests, stating, “It was revealed that the suspects had visited the Gagamari IDP camp in the Niger Republic to register non-Nigerians in the IDP camp.”
Authorities seized various items from the suspects, including: NIN registration machines, Printing machines, Laminating machine, Computer tracking devices and others.
The fraudulent activities reportedly extended to border communities, allowing non-Nigerian citizens, particularly from the Niger Republic, to fraudulently obtain Nigerian NINs in exchange for money.
