As part of its efforts to overcome concerns with passport processing in the country, The federal government has transfered the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to the Ministry of Interior.

Following his assumption of office, the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, committed to work towards incorporating the NIMC within the ministry to ensure appropriate coordination of Nigerians’ identity data.

This process is currently being accelerated in accordance with President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s decision to remove all obstructions and bottlenecks in the acquisition of passports.

The National Identity Number (NIN), domiciled in NIMC, is one of the major prerequisites for obtaining an international passport.

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Until now, the NIMC was overseen by the Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and the Digital Economy.

A source who did not want to be identified because he is not authorised to comment on the topic told our correspondent that a meeting with personnel from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation was conducted on Wednesday at the ministry.

He stated that the purpose of the conference was to coordinate the work of the two government organisations.

“The process is ongoing and should be finalised by Friday because there is another meeting scheduled for Friday,” the source at the ministry said.

During the past administration, the NIMC worked with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to integrate NIN with Subscriber Identity Modules (SIM) to combat kidnapping, banditry, and terrorism.

Within three years, over 100 million Nigerians had linked their NIN to their SIM.