Posted by Samuel on Sat 08th Feb, 2025 - tori.ng
A reliable source in the presidency disclosed that the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, made this known while briefing the Federal Executive Council on Tuesday, February 4, 2025.
The Nigerian government has disclosed that 6,000 individuals from the Niger Republic illegally acquired National Identity Numbers (NIN).
A reliable source in the presidency disclosed that the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, made this known while briefing the Federal Executive Council on Tuesday, February 4, 2025.
The minister, however, revealed that Nigeria’s National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, has wiped the 6,000 NINs obtained by Nigeriens from its database.
“The interior minister said NIMC is tidying up the database because they found over 6,000 people from the Niger Republic who obtained NIN. But they have been wiped from the database,” the source stated.
According to the source, Olubunmi was added to the special panel overseeing the country’s humanitarian ministry, which is responsible for conditional cash transfers and other welfare programmes.
The Director-General of NIMC, Bisoye Coker-Odusote, confirmed the development, saying the agency was working to ensure transparency and accuracy in government payments, particularly for humanitarian purposes.
Meanwhile, recall that the issue of fake and illegal NINs is not new. On October 13, 2022, the Defence Headquarters in Abuja said troops, in conjunction with the Nigeria Police and operatives of the Nigeria Immigration Service, intercepted two suspected fake NIMC officials.
The Director of Defence Media Operations at the time, Major General Musa Danmadami, in a statement, said, “It was revealed that the suspects had visited the Gagamari IDP camp in the Niger Republic to register non-Nigerians in the IDP camp.”
This comes as reports surfaced that fake agents were reportedly charging non-Nigerian citizens, primarily from neighbouring countries such as the Niger Republic, to obtain Nigerian NINs.