New digital token to replace NIN- FG

The federal government on Wednesday, December 22, announced its plan to introduce a digital token that would replace the current 11-digit National Identity Number, with effect from January 2022, a digital token would serve as a replacement for the NIN for all Nigerians.

The new digitoken would be replacing the already existing NIN Photo: Dr Isa Pantami Source: Twitter

In a booklet released by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), the Nigerian government said it would become illegal for any company or agency to be found verifying NIN.

According to the Nigerian government, NIN verification by any agency or company would become a punishable offence.

The new digital token would comprise of 16 alphabets and numbers.

The vNIN is non-transferable and expires after 72 hours

It also reports that companies would only be allowed to store and verify virtual NIN or digitoken which is exclusively issued to an ID holder with the NIN.

The booklet read in part:

“The virtual NIN is issued by an ID holder who has onboarded the NIMC MobileID application or generated via the USSD service."

"The Digitoken is issued to a specific verification entity and may be only verified by that entity and no one else.”

The booklet also noted that parents could use their profiles to generate the virtual NIN for their children and wards who are minors on the NIMC application.

It said::

"The Digitoken issued by the ID holder (to be known as the Issuer) will now replace the raw 11-digit NIN in all databases around the country, with the exception of the National Identity Database domiciled at the NIMC.

The federal government has made commendable progress in its efforts to create a database for Nigeria.

There are about 51 million citizens who have been captured in the NIN enrollment since its inception in 2020.

In fact, the government revealed that 189 million SIMs have been registered so far.

The minister of communications and the digital economy has revealed the huge amount generated by his ministry.

According to him, the sector played a huge role in lifting the country out of recession in recent times.

Going further, the minister said that initiatives of the ministry are geared towards supporting the federal government in its 3 main focus areas- economy, security and anti-corruption.