NIN enrolment in USA: Federal Government appoints Upwell Finance LLC official partner

An Official Diaspora Enrollment Partner of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has been appointed for the purpose of providing data capture and enrolment services for the issuance of the National Identification Number (NIN) and other related services to Nigerian citizens in the Diaspora.

Upwell Finance, LLC, in collaboration with Kevonne Consults Limited have been licensed to provide the critical services that would lead to the issue of the NIN, which number is required for the issuance of such sensitive national documents as the new 10 year international passport of Nigeria.

The acting Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mr. Isah Idris, reconfirmed the importance of the NIN for international passport issuance at the inauguration of the enhanced electronic international passport (e-passport) and passport production centre in the South East geo-political zone of the country on Thursday, March 3, 2022.

According to the NIS boss, the enhanced e-passport is water-resistant, durable, user-friendly and highly technologically compliant and comes in three categories: 32 pages with five years validity; 64 pages with five years validity and 64 pages with 10 years validity (only for adults above 18 years), stressing that an applicant’s “National Identity Number (NIN) is a compulsory requirement for obtaining the enhanced e-passport.”

Nigeria’s Consul-General in New York, Ambassador Peter Lot Egopija, also announced at a recent Town Hall with nationals in the New York jurisdiction, the Consulate’s area of coverage, that the Consulate will soon start issuance of the passports with 10 years validity to the country’s nationals.

“Last month (January) we were informed that 10 years passports will be brought to New York.

“We have been asked to prepare for the take- off to issue 10 years passport. We know that to qualify for the 10 years passport, that applicant must have a National Identification Number (NIN),” he said.

Egopija urged Nigerians who have not enrolled for the NIN to do so immediately, stressing that the Nigerian Government had already designated some vendors to register Nigerians in the diaspora for the NIN.

Upwell Finance is a reputable New Jersey, United States of America (USA)-based company, and further inquiries concerning the scheduling of appointments for enrollment for the NIN, and answers to other related questions can be accessed via the company’s website: https://upwellfinance.com. Please click on NIMC NIN for details.

According to Upwell, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) was established by the NIMC Act No. 23 of 2007 with the mandate to establish, own, operate, maintain and manage the National Identity Database in Nigeria, register persons covered by the Act, assign a Unique National Identification Number (NIN) and issue General Multi-Purpose Cards (GMPC) to those who are citizens of Nigeria as well as others legally residing within the country.

In 2019, NIMC commenced the Diaspora enrolment exercise aimed at capturing Nigerians living outside the country into the National Identity Database thereby ensuring they also benefit from the acquisition of their National Identification Numbers (NIN). The National Identification Number (NIN) consists of 11 non- intelligible numbers randomly chosen and assigned to an individual at the completion of enrollment into the National Identity Database (NIDB).  Once a NIN is assigned to an individual, it can never be reassigned, given or used by another person.

In the case of the demise of an individual, his/her NIN is retired once a death certificate is presented to the Commission and the individual’s death is established.  The NIN is used to tie all records about an individual in the database and is also used to establish or verify his/her identity. All Nigerian citizens and legal residents in Nigeria, from age zero (birth) and above are eligible to enroll for the NIN.

The NIN should be closely guarded by individuals and not revealed to all and sundry except to relevant authorities when requested (for instance it shouldn’t be disclosed online over social media and should not be printed along with contact details on business cards or other office stationery.