NIN: Nigeria Gets W’Bank’s $45.5m Fund For ID4D Project

The World Bank has disbursed $45.5 million to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) as part of the Digital Identification for Development (ID4D) project, aimed at increasing the number of Nigerians registered for the National Identification Number (NIN). This funding comes amid rising concerns about the security of the NIN database and other government-held data, following reports of personal information being sold online.
According to the project’s implementation report published by the World Bank, the funds were disbursed in multiple tranches between December 2021 and April 2024, with disbursement still ongoing. The $45.5 million disbursed so far represents about 10.5 per cent of the project’s total cost of $430 million. While the deadline to enroll 148 million Nigerians by June 1, 2024, has passed, with only 107.3 million NINs issued by April, the World Bank has described the project’s progress as ‘moderately satisfactory.’
The release of funds was predicated on the institutionalisation of data protection measures. The passage of the Nigeria Data Protection Act in June last year helped unlock the funding for the project, ensuring that collected data would be adequately protected. However, Paradigm Initiative, an organisation advocating for data rights in Africa, has questioned the security of Nigerians’ data despite the existence of the data protection law. They highlighted instances of data, including NIN, BVN, and passport information, being sold online.
Executive director of Paradigm Initiative, Gbenga Sesan, revealed that their investigation confirmed that NIMC’s data was being sold online. He demonstrated this by purchasing the NIN slip of top officials, including the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, and the head of Nigeria’s data protection regulator, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, for just N100 each.
Sesan emphasis v ed that the data breach has severe security implications, as personal information can be used maliciously. He noted that people could obtain a SIM card using someone else’s NIN, and kidnappers could use the data to locate their targets’ home addresses.
The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has yet to respond to the issue. However, NIMC, in a statement, denied that Nigerians’ data had been compromised.