NIMC Downtime Halts Banking, SIM Activations Nationwide

A lingering disruption on Nigeria’s NIN verification portal has thrown both the financial and telecommunications sectors into confusion, as banks and mobile network operators struggle to carry out basic operations.

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) had earlier promised a resolution to the issue, but reports indicate the portal has remained unstable for over a week, frustrating daily operations at banks, mobile service outlets, and even the Nigeria Immigration Service.

Across multiple cities, financial institutions confirmed they were unable to process new accounts or access existing ones, while telecom operators say SIM activations and NIN linkages have stalled.

“Yes, we have been having serious challenges with NIN verification since last week,” a staff member at GTBank Wuse 2 said. “We can’t open new accounts or even access some customers’ accounts… it’s affecting people and the economy negatively.”

Frustrations Mount as NIMC System Breakdown Persists

In Abuja and Lagos, long queues have formed at bank branches, with many customers hoping to resolve issues linked to the broken identity verification system. Meanwhile, the disruption has exposed a larger issue: the over-reliance on a centralised NIN verification platform that many now view as fragile.

At Zenith Bank’s Federal Secretariat branch, staff echoed similar concerns. “Since last week, NIN verification has remained a big issue… This is not only affecting us, but also our customers whose livelihoods depend on our services,” one employee explained.

Interestingly, a few institutions like Access Bank claim they have managed to keep things running. A staff member at the bank’s Federal Secretariat branch noted, “There may be issues elsewhere, but we have been opening new accounts without problems today.”

For telecom operators, the impact is just as severe. At an MTN outlet in Garki 2, Mariam Yusuf confirmed that SIM registrations had been paused entirely. “We’ve been facing this problem since last week and there is still no solution,” she said.

Tokenisation Offers a Glimmer of Hope

While frustration builds, NIMC is pushing a less widely known fallback system called Tokenisation. This method enables identity verification without exposing the full NIN, enhancing data privacy and security.imc

However, adoption has been slow. Many banks, telcos, and the general public are either unaware of the tokenisation method or unsure how to implement it in their existing systems.

A Lagos-based CEO of an e-payment company lamented the situation, saying their operations have stalled due to the inability to activate 4G communication nodes. “There are no alternative networks. We’re borrowing SIMs just to run dry tests. Telcos can’t activate SIM cards at all,” the CEO noted.

Despite reassurances from NIMC, it remains unclear when the full portal functionality will return. Until then, millions of Nigerians are left waiting — and businesses continue to suffer.