News

NIMC Warns Against Fake NIN Number

Published

1 year ago

May 11, 2024

Editor

The National Identity Management Commission says it has uncovered a syndicate of individuals posing as staff of the commission and issuing fake National Identity Numbers to unsuspecting Nigerians.

It said some offenders have been arrested and are undergoing prosecution with relevant security agencies.

The NIMC Director General, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, disclosed this at a press briefing on Friday in Abuja.

Odusote at the briefing also announced that over 107.34 million Nigerians have been enrolled into the NIN database as of May 2024 from 104m recorded in December 2023.

The NIN, a unique identifier assigned to each citizen, has gained prominence in recent years as the cornerstone of various government initiatives aimed at enhancing security, governance, and service delivery.

Detailing their modus operandi, the Director General explained that these individuals masquerade as business vendors and cyber cafes, crafting links for unsuspecting individuals, developing software, and fabricating fake NINs. “This data doesn’t reach our server, resulting in numerous Nigerians falling victim to scams,” she said.

She said a further clampdown led to the discovery of a group of individuals around its annexe office.

The NIMC boss, however, declined to disclose details on the number of persons being interrogated but assured that as soon as the investigation is concluded they would be charged to court for cybercrimes.

Odusote said, “I am going to speak on extortion, data breach and privacy. When we carried out our investigations, we discovered that around NIMC’s offices, people were parading as business vendors and cyber cafes, creating links for unsuspecting persons, designing software and generating fake NINs for people.

“This data does not come to our server and a lot of Nigerians have been scammed. We record an influx of crowd, people coming into the office telling us that they registered but we can’t find their data on the system. We have a lot of these instances with citizens claiming to have paid money to people who do not have any connection to NIMC.

“They (offenders) have perfected the act of trying to mimic what NIMC does. So we decided to clamp down on these people and have arrested offenders. These persons don’t have any connection with the commission at all. We don’t have any internal data breaches because we have one of the best in the world.

“We will not allow them to parade as if they are part of us and they are not. A lot of people have lost money through this method.”

He added that the commission got wind of the issue after a customer complained that she had paid N120,000 to modify her birth certificate.

There is a case I got at our annexe office and a lady approached me telling me that she had been extorted of over N120,000 to modify her birth certificate. And the person who extorted her is not a NIMC staff and all he does is create a fake birth certificate and other documents for a fee. This is part of the reason we decided to digitise our operations.”

She added that efforts have also reached the advanced stage for Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government to harmonise their identity database with NIMC for the country to have a Central Identity database.

The DG further stated within the next nine months the commission will upgrade the capacity of its database from 100 million to 250 million.

“Nigeria needs to exit keeping multiple identities of citizens in silos through different agencies, we must have a central system, and that is why we are upgrading our infrastructures.

“Obtaining NIN should be within a minimum period especially when our system has been upgraded, and we are building capacity at all levels from the network infrastructure perspective to software areas down to the database.

“We are working on increasing the capacity that we have, we are trying to increase from 100million to 250million, and the process will take us a minimum of 6 months to 9 months. But we are sure we will be there,” Coke-Odusote said.

On the General Multipurpose National Identity Card, she noted that Nigerians will have to pay a certain amount of money to get the new card when it’s launched through finance institutions in the country.

She said, “Just like how you pay to access your ATM cards in the banks, Nigerians will pay through the banks to access their cards within 48 hours after payment to get the digital multipurpose card.”

News

Why I Won’t Attend Gaza Summit In Egypt — Netanyahu

Published

1 hour ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not attend Monday’s Gaza summit in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh because it coincides with a Jewish holiday, his office said.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu was invited by US President Donald Trump to attend a conference in Egypt today,” his office said in a statement.

“The prime minister thanked President Trump for the invitation but said he would be unable to attend due to the timing coinciding with the start of the holiday” of Simhat Torah, which begins Monday evening and continues until sunset Tuesday.

Earlier, Egypt’s presidency said Netanyahu had been invited to attend following a call between US President Donald Trump, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and the Israeli premier.

AFP

News

Fubara Names New Rivers SSG

Published

1 hour ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

The Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has approved the appointment of Benibo Anabraba as the new Secretary to the State Government.

The appointment was confirmed on Monday in a statement signed by Dr. Honour Sirawoo, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Communications.

According to the release, Anabraba is scheduled to be sworn in today, Monday, October 13, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. at the State Executive Council Chambers, Government House, Port Harcourt.

The statement said, “His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, GSSRS, Governor of Rivers State, has approved the appointment of Hon. Benibo Anabraba as Secretary to the Rivers State Government.

“The new SSG will be sworn in today, Monday, October 13, 2025, by 4:00 PM at the State Executive Council Chambers, Government House, Port Harcourt.”

The appointment follows Fubara’s recent reinstatement to office after a period of political and legal turbulence that led to his suspension under emergency rule declared by President Bola Tinubu.

Tinubu had, on March 18, 2025, declared a state of emergency in Rivers State, suspending the governor, his deputy, and members of the House of Assembly. He cited the prolonged political crisis between Fubara and his predecessor and political benefactor, Nyesom Wike, as the reason.

In Fubara’s place, Tinubu appointed retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas as Sole Administrator, with a mandate to restore political stability.

Recall that the immediate past administrator, upon assumption of office during the emergency rule imposed suspended all commissioners, special advisers, and assistants appointed by Fubara.

Ibas also dissolved boards and suspended heads of parastatals he met in office.

Since Ibas exited the state on September 18, the fate of Fubara’s appointees had remained uncertain. The Rivers State House of Assembly, at its first sitting after the lifting of the emergency rule, had called on the governor to submit a fresh list of commissioner-nominees for screening, alongside the 2025 budget for passage.

His return to the governorship has coincided with a flurry of administrative changes as the governor consolidates his team.

News

FG To Disburse ₦6.3bn Interest-free Loans To 21,000 Flood Victims

Published

1 hour ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

The Federal Government is set to disburse ₦6.3 billion in interest-free loans to 21,000 Nigerians affected by recent flood disasters across the country.

Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Yusuf Sununu, made this known on Monday in Abuja during a roundtable marking the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Sununu said the initiative aims to cushion the impact of flooding and enhance food security nationwide, Channels reports.

“In the next few weeks, 21,000 Nigerians will receive interest-free, collateral-free loans of ₦300,000 each.

“This intervention is designed to support farmers and strengthen communities affected by flooding,” he said.

The minister further revealed that the Federal Government, through the National Social Investment Programme, has reached over 8.1 million households with more than ₦300 billion in Conditional Cash Transfers.

“This support has improved the resilience, health, and education of many vulnerable households. The process will continue under the Hope Agenda of Mr. President,” Sununu added.

He also announced plans to empower internally displaced persons through a scheme that guarantees a market for their produce.

“Under our new collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, IDPs will retain 30% of their produce while the government will off-take 70%, providing direct cash payments to the participants,” he explained.

In her remarks, the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency, Zubaida Umar, highlighted the growing threat of climate-related disasters and called for stronger preventive measures.

Umar noted that Nigeria faces increasing risks from climate change, conflicts, pandemics, and technological hazards, stressing that disaster management must shift from reactive to proactive approaches.

She also announced the launch of two key policy frameworks — the NEMA Strategic Plan (2025–2029) and the National Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy (2025–2030) to guide future disaster preparedness and resilience-building efforts.

“These frameworks promote innovation in financing, institutional collaboration, and risk-informed development,” she said, adding that NEMA is developing a National Risk Monitoring and Information Platform to enhance early warning and data-driven decision-making.

She further called for innovative financing options, including catastrophe bonds, climate funds, and blended finance models, to sustain disaster prevention and recovery initiatives.

The event, which focused on building resilience against climate-related disasters, was attended by Vice President Kashim Shettima, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Benjamin Kalu, Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal, lawmakers, and international partners.

The PUNCH reports that 238 persons have lost their lives, while 135,764 others have been displaced following floods that swept through parts of the country as of October 10, 2025, according to figures obtained from the National Emergency Management Agency’s 2025 Flood Dashboard on Saturday.

NEMA reports that at least 409,714 people have been affected so far, with 826 sustaining various degrees of injuries and 115 reported missing across the country.

Flood-related deaths were recorded in multiple states, bringing the nationwide death toll to 238.