On June 30, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), the identity gatekeeper of Nigerians, announced that it had completed its new verification platform, NINAuth. Following the completion, it has reportedly migrated data from its old platforms to NINAuth.
State of play: At its core, NINAuth will allow Nigerians to control their identity data.
- It has a tokenisation feature which grants Nigerians autonomy over their data; they can make authorisations directly to organisations and businesses that request for their National Identification Number (NIN).
- It also cuts out intermediaries that previously handled NIN verifications, reducing the risk of data leaks and speeding up authentication processes.
- NIMC says NINAuth will become the standard for all identity verification requests involving NINs going forward.
Catch up: Recall in 2019, NIN became a thing of national priority when the government ordered that all SIM cards must be linked to an NIN. Previously a means of identification that was relegated to the background, the NIN has evolved to play a role that is far greater.
Beyond SIM linking, Nigerians must use their NINs to make SIM swaps, port new phone numbers between two mobile networks, and its importance is even visible in banking and fintechs for KYC verification.
However, despite its growing importance, many Nigerians still have no NINs; only about 60% have NINs. As a result—and sheer negligence in some cases—telecom companies have been forced to block SIM cards.
Between the lines: NINAuth will work like Kenya’s Huduma Namba platform, but with a bigger emphasis on user-controlled data sharing, thanks to tokenisation. The platform is billed to help solve long-standing issues around identity duplication, slow verifications, and data insecurity.
But if you’re still struggling with your NIN registration, the NIMC wants you to hold telecom companies responsible.
