NIMC directs Nigerians to Tokenization platform pending when NVS is available

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has directed Nigerians to use the Tokenisation platform, an alternative platform used for the verification of the National Identity Number (NIN), pending when its NIN Verification Service (NVS) is up and running.

NIMC at the weekend, announced that its NVS is temporarily unavailable due to the maintenance by one of the commission’s network service providers, while assuring the public that verification and authentication service would be restored once the maintenance is concluded.

In a press statement made available to ireporteronline on Monday, NIMC said no one should be debarred of any service on the guise of NIN not being verified, adding that the Tokenisation is up and running.

It said, “Even though the NIN verification service (NVS) might be down due to maintenance by one of our service providers of its infrastructure, the alternative platform – Tokenisation is up and running. No one should be debarred of any service on the guise of NIN not being verified.”

Rather than turning down customers in the guise of NIN not being verified due to the temporary unavailability, the commission urged organisations like telecom companies, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Banks etc to make use of the alternative platform.

“There is the need to ask questions from the Telcos, NIS, Banks and others on the reason for turning down customers in the guise of NIN not being verified due to the temporary unavailability of the NVS, while the alternative platform- Tokenization is working. NIMC NVS platform is not the only verification platform available for use, but Tokenisation which protects the identity of NIN holders is also up and running.

“And for accurate information, it is not a NIMC problem, rather, a government service provider has embarked on maintenance of its infrastructure, which has affected most government agencies that rely on it for the provision of IT service. But for us in NIMC, the Tokenization is available for the verification of the NIN before rendering services,” it added.