The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, and the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, are working together to tackle difficulties students and prospective candidates face during National Identification Number, NIN, registration.
Speaking on the challenges faced by students participating in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, the JAMB Registrar, Professor Segun Aina, said there is a need for closer coordination between the 2 agencies to ease the process for candidates.
The Director-General of NIMC, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, assured JAMB of the commission’s readiness to collaborate in addressing the challenges and reducing the frustration experienced by students during NIN enrolment and verification.
The 2 agencies also reaffirmed their commitment to working with relevant government institutions to ensure that more Nigerians are enrolled seamlessly into the national identity system.
According to Professor Aina, many prospective UTME candidates, particularly those in rural and remote areas, have complained about long travel distances to enrolment centres, network failures, and delays in getting their NINs verified on the JAMB portal. He noted that these bottlenecks have in some cases prevented qualified students from completing their registration before the deadline.
In her response, Coker-Odusote said NIMC is already expanding its enrolment infrastructure through partnerships with private sector front-end partners and the deployment of more mobile registration units to schools and local government areas. She added that the commission is upgrading its verification backend to ensure faster and more reliable authentication for JAMB applicants.
Both agencies disclosed that a joint technical committee would be set up to harmonize their databases and create a dedicated support channel for UTME candidates with NIN-related issues. The committee is expected to develop a clear guideline that will reduce duplication and eliminate extortion by unauthorized agents.
Stakeholders in the education sector have welcomed the development, describing it as long overdue. They expressed hope that the collaboration would not only ease access for the 2026 UTME cycle but also lay a foundation for a more inclusive national identity enrolment process for all students across the country.
The meeting ended with an agreement to hold quarterly review sessions to assess progress, share data on enrolment challenges, and implement practical solutions that will make the NIN registration process less cumbersome for young Nigerians seeking admission into tertiary institutions.
Finally, both JAMB and NIMC urged parents, school proprietors, and prospective candidates to begin their NIN registration early and to use only officially accredited centres to avoid falling victim to fraudsters.
