As many Nigerians try to get their NIN, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has announced the closure of its headquarters in Abuja.

In a statement on Saturday, NIMC said Isa Ali Pantami, the minister of communications and digital economy, has approved the reactivation of 20 centres to make the process of national identification number (NIN) easier.

This, it said, would be effective from Monday, January 18, 2021.

“Members of the public, residents and visitors to the FCT wishing to enroll for the national identification number (NIN} should use any of the NIMC centers,” the statement read.

PUBLIC NOTICE!!!

CLOSURE OF NIMC HEAD QUARTERS ENROLMENT CENTER AND ACTIVATION OF 20 ENROLMENT CENTERS IN THE FCT

digitalidentity #DigitalNigeria @DrIsaPantami @aliyuaziz @FMoCDENigeria @NITDANigeria @NgComCommission @UwaSuleiman pic.twitter.com/H2yDAZ889g

— NIMC (@nimc_ng) January 16, 2021
Large crowds have besieged NIMC centres across the country following a directive from the ministry that subscribers of telecommunications networks link their NIN to their SIM cards.

Olorunnimbe Mamora, the minister of state for health, had said the federal government may suspend the enrollment exercise to avoid further spread of the coronavirus.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had asked all telcos to disconnect the SIM cards of persons who have not integrated their national identity numbers (NIN) with their phone lines by the end of January.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that Nigeria had 205 million active voice subscribers at the end of the third quarter of 2020.

The number of internet subscribers also grew to 151.51 million.