Indication emerged Friday, that more than 51 million people in the country have been assigned the National Identification Number (NIN).

The new record News Express learnt is based on the updates of the NIN-registration process and was disclosed after a meeting by the Ministerial Task Force on NIN-SIM Data Linkage, presided over by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Pantami, on Thursday.

It was also disclosed that the request for extension of NIN/ SIM linkage registration was granted by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The extension will last until May 6, 2021.

It was also learnt that the current number of monthly enrollments has increased significantly to about 2.6 million registrations.

Further disclosure is that about 3,800 centres available for enrollments  across the country which has resulted in the remarkable increase in the number of enrolment.

“There are also many more new centres in the pipeline”. A joint press statement by

Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde Director, Public Affairs Nigerian Communications Commission and              Mr Kayode Adegoke, Head, Corporate Communications, National Identity  Management Commission, said.

In the statement: “There are many people who have enrolled and are in the process of being assigned NINs. With each individual having an average of 3 to 4 SIMs, the total number of SIMs tied to NINs would close to the total number of registered SIMs in the country”.

Also in that statement, the Chairman of the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, who attended the meeting stated that the NIN-SIM linkage would support the Federal Government in checkmating the activities of fraudsters and cybercriminals.

Other key stakeholders at the meeting included: the EVC/CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), DG/CEO of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), DG/CEO of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Representative of the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), the NCC Executive Commissioners Technical Services and Stakeholder Management, MD/CEOs of MTN, Airtel, EMTS (9Mobile), NTEL, Spectranet and SMILE, as well as the COO of Glo.