Why NIN doesn’t always lead to kidnappers — NIMC DG

By Lawrence Agbo

The Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Abisoye Coker-Odusote, has explained why Nigeria’s National Identification Number (NIN) system does not always result in the arrest of terrorists and kidnappers.

Speaking during Channels TV Sunday Politics, Coker-Odusote said the NIN remains the foundation of the country’s security architecture but noted that criminals often evade detection by using the mobile phones of their victims instead of their own.

“We already know the NIN is the foundational identity for the security architecture, but a lot of the time, you find out the kidnappers use the phones of the people they have abducted, which means how do you trace them because they are not using their own phones?” she said.

According to the NIMC boss, the tactic makes it difficult for security agencies to identify and track suspects through identity-linked phone records, despite the importance of the NIN in strengthening national security.

She also disclosed that President Bola Tinubu has directed the commission to ensure that every Nigerian is enrolled in the National Identity Database before the end of the year.

“The President has given us till the end of this year to make sure we capture every Nigerian in the National Identity Database,” Coker-Odusote said.

She said expanding the national identity database remains a key priority for the commission as part of efforts to improve identity management and support the country’s security framework.