Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Abisoye Coker-Odusote, has offered a clear explanation for why kidnappers and terrorists are not always traceable through the National Identification Number (NIN) system, despite its central role in Nigeria's security architecture. Speaking during an interview on Channels Television's Sunday Politics on 12 July 2026, Coker-Odusote said criminals often frustrate tracking efforts by using mobile phones and SIM cards belonging to their victims instead of lines registered in their own names.
According to her, the use of victims' devices and registered SIM cards makes it difficult for investigators to immediately establish the true identities of those behind abductions. She explained that a lot of the time, kidnappers use the phones of the people they have abducted, which makes it hard to trace them because they are not using their own phones.
Coker-Odusote also raised the possibility that some kidnappers may not be Nigerians at all. She suggested that criminals could be brought into the country shortly before carrying out attacks and might, therefore, not have been captured in the country's identity database. She noted that there is a theory that it may be possible that these kidnappers are not Nigerians and are brought into the country 48 or 72 hours before a kidnapping takes place, specifically for that purpose, adding that if that were the case, they naturally would not be captured in the database and that those are some of the scenarios they have.
Despite the challenges, the NIMC boss maintained that the NIN continues to play an important role in identity verification and criminal investigations. The NIN is an 11-digit unique number issued to Nigerians and legal residents under the National Identity Management Commission Act, 2007, and serves as the country's foundational digital identity. The Federal Government has also made the linkage of SIM cards to NIN mandatory as part of efforts to strengthen identity management, improve security investigations, and curb crimes committed through telecommunications networks.
Beyond security purposes, the NIN is required for passport applications, opening bank accounts, obtaining driver's licences, and accessing several government services and programmes. Coker-Odusote's comments come amid growing public concern over the effectiveness of the NIN-SIM linkage policy in curbing kidnapping and other violent crimes, with many Nigerians questioning why security agencies have not been able to fully utilise the system to track criminals who continue to operate with impunity across the country.
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