NIMC: How To Check If Your National ID Card Is Ready For Collection

You can now check if your National ID Card is ready for collection right within the portal of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), a government agency saddled with the responsibility of maintaining Nigeria’s data on national identity systems.

NOTE: The link to check if your card is ready for pick up isn’t working at the moment: touch.nimc.gov.ng.

However, you can check one of our guides on how to rectify mistakes on National ID data at: https://infomediang.com/apply-for-nin-correction-of-name-date-of-birth

Established by the NIMC Act No. 23 of 2007, it began enrolling Nigerians in September 2010 for the national ID card.

Issuance of the multipurpose NIMC National ID card began in 2013, while others have got them, some are yet to. You can use any of the approved NIN enrolment agents across Nigeria.

As a result of this, the NIMC came up with a special portal for those who registered in 2013 to start checking if their National ID card is ready.

if you haven’t registered for NIN, you can check our guide on how to apply for NIN and get your slip right away.

If you’re yet to get your NIMC National ID Card, check if your card is ready in these simple steps. 

Is my NIMC National ID Card ready for pick up?

You may know if your NIMC National ID Card is ready for collection unless you head straight to the NIMC National ID Card portal to check the status of your card.

How to check the status of your ID card

1) Enter or type https://touch.nimc.gov.ng on your favourite browser. Use any of the following browsers: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, UC browser, Explorer etc

2) Click on “Click to proceed” It’s a green button.

3) It takes you to the next page, where you’re expected to fill your enrollment details:first name, last name, and last six digits of your National Identification Number (NIN)

4) Click on “Check Now”

If it’s ready, you’ll get information about where and how to get it. If it’s not ready, you’ll see a pop-up message, “CARD NOT READY:

Sorry Quadri, the details did not return a result. Perhaps your card has not yet been dispatched. Please try again in a week or so.”

You may even want to know the essence of your National ID Card.

Advantages of NIMC National ID Card in Nigeria

• National Security
• Issue Of Ghost Workers
• Identification Purpose
• Fight Identity Theft
• Prevent Multiple Voting
• Easy Movement Of Nigerians
• Help In Making Provision For Certain Services

It’s now a global practice for countries to issue National ID cards to their nationals throughout the world.

One of the popular advantages of the national ID card is that it helps improve internal security.

NIMC National ID card incorporate biometrics, which are physical characteristics that differentiate you from another person.

So let’s take a look at some of the advantages of NIMC national ID card in Nigeria,

1) National Security

One of the major reasons behind the idea of a National ID card in Nigeria is for national security. The ID card assists the government to easily identify persons who could be risk to national security.

Even though the government of Nigeria hasn’t shown any political will to enforce the use of NIMC card, national ID cards, we believe, will help law enforcement officials to easily identify an individual who is a suspect of a crime, that’s if it’s properly implemented.

2) To help decrease the issue of ghost workers in Nigeria

One of the major economic parasites to the Nigerian economy are ghost workers. They have collected billions of Naira in the past through the assistance of their cronies in Nigeria.

NIMC National ID card will likely help fight and reduce the issue of illegal employees who collect monies monthly without making input to the government.

Apart from that, the National ID card has helped some of the developed countries of the world to identify if a job applicant is actually a citizen of the country. This can also be achieved in Nigeria with the use of a national ID card.

3) Identification purpose

NIMC National ID card contains every biodata of the holder which can greatly assist security operatives in their investigation whenever there is a security breach.

“It is used for retrieving your captured information from the National Identity Database.”

This means that NIMC National ID card be scanned and searched on a national database when the need arises.

In Nigeria, the “National Identification Number (NIN) is used to tie together all records about you – demographic data, fingerprints, head-to-shoulder facial picture, other biometric data and digital signature – in the National Identity Database making it relatively easy to confirm and verify your identity when you engage in travels and transactions.”

The NIN is usually 11-digit or above with tracking code and your details.

4) To fight identity theft

The national ID card can help to prevent the issue of identity theft and forgery.

Today, most of the government recruitment vacancies like Federal Road Safety Recruitment require either the applicants NIMC ID card or his driver’s licence so that an applicant doesn’t claim to be what he’s not.

Banks in Nigeria use NIMC Card too for account opening and other verification.

“When it comes to access to vital services (like passport issuance, banking services, land transactions, insurance services, pension, health insurance, payment of taxes, voter’s registration, consumer credits, and all Government services), your NIN becomes necessary.”

5) Help prevent multiple voting

Nigeria hasn’t gotten to using her national ID card for voting, but these cards are being used in some developed countries to prevent forged identities, according to Legalbeagle.com

According to NIMC, it will be used for “Verification of voter eligibility during elections,” but we’re not sure this has been implemented.

6) Useful for movement of Nigerians

The national ID card can also help the Nigerian government to keep track of actual transactions as well as “movement of people within and out of the country.”

7) Assist the government in making provision for certain services

NIMC National ID card is designed in such a way that it will assist the government in knowing which essential amenities are needed, and which are not e.g. age and retirement confirmation for pensioners.