World Bank Raises Alarm as 59 Million Nigerians Remain Without NIN, Enrolment Agents Go Unpaid

The World Bank has disclosed that 59 million Nigerians are yet to obtain their National Identification Numbers (NINs), amid concerns that enrolment agents contracted by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) have not been paid since January 2026.

The warning was contained in the World Bank’s October 2026 restructuring report on Nigeria’s Digital Identification for Development (ID4D) project, which identified delayed payments to Front-End Partners (FEPs) as a major operational challenge threatening the country’s target of registering 180 million people.

According to the report, only about 121 million Nigerians had obtained their NINs as of September 30, 2026, leaving a gap of approximately 59 million registrations.

The bank stressed that resolving the outstanding payments was essential to sustaining the enrolment programme and ensuring that registration partners remained active in the nationwide exercise.

It urged NIMC to strengthen its billing system to produce audited payment reports that would facilitate the timely settlement of fees owed to the enrolment partners.

The report stated that the partners had remained unpaid since January 2026, describing the situation as an issue requiring urgent attention.

Beyond settling the outstanding fees, the World Bank identified six other priority areas NIMC must address to accelerate enrolment and achieve the 180 million target.

These include activating a Learning Management System (LMS) to train and certify enrolment agents, deploying 7,000 mobile registration devices and extending NIN enrolment to schools and underserved communities.

The bank set October 31, 2026, as the deadline for operationalising the learning platform, while the deployment of the 7,000 devices, with enrolment modules activated, is expected by January 2027.

The report further disclosed that NIMC needs to increase its average monthly registration rate from 1.5 million to 3.9 million to meet the national target.

Although the ward-level enrolment initiative launched in March 2026 had generated 10 million new NINs by the September assessment, the current registration pace remains below the required level.

NIMC has also licensed approximately 365 Front-End Partners, including mobile network operators, to expand registration coverage across the country.

Other proposed interventions include working with the Ministry of Education to commence school-based registration by December 2026, engaging local governments in communities with low enrolment and collaborating with social protection and health agencies to reach disadvantaged populations.

The latest disclosure comes after NIMC announced in December 2024 that it had cleared outstanding payments owed to enrolment partners for services rendered between 2021 and 2024.

At the time, the commission said the earlier arrears had been settled following a revalidation exercise supported by the ID4D project and the World Bank.

The fresh payment concerns raise questions about the sustainability of Nigeria’s nationwide digital identity expansion as the country works towards enrolling millions of citizens who are yet to obtain their NINs.