This is to bring to your attention that we’re currently unable to verify NINs on our digital platforms(Mobile app & Sprout) due to industry wide changes by the National Identity Management Commission(NIMC).
Please advise users to verify only their BVNs instead.
Why did this happen?
In a bid to further protect the data privacy of users, the NIMC has introduced NIN tokenization.
NIN tokenization simply means using an encrypted(or coded) version of the NIN instead of the actual NIN itself for identity verification and other use cases.
The Virtual NIN(VNIN) will now be used in place of the NIN to verify identity of users. The VNIN is a temporary 16-digit set of alphanumeric characters.
Additionally, the VNIN expires in 72 hours and can only be used by the party it was generated for.
How should I manage users who make complaints to me?
Simply let them know this is due to a change from the regulatory body(NIMC). Hence we can’t verify their NINs at the moment.
However, BVN verification still works on the mobile app and Sprout.
Users who verify their BVNs can still take loans and perform basic transactions on the mobile app.
What are the next steps?
We’re already in talks with our identity verification partner(identity Pass) to update our existing integration with them to accommodate the verification of VNINs.
We’ll be sending out communication to all our users informing them of this temporary suspension.
We will send a communication to all our users updating them on how to generate their VNINs as we have updated you, once our connection with identity pass is updated
This also means that we will no longer be able to store NINs on Sprout anymore for future use of any kind.
On the next version of the app, there will be clear instructions for users to generate their VNINs for identity verification.
How will the VNIN be generated?
This is for information purposes only. This is not to be used yet on on our platforms. We’ll let you know when you can ask users to use these steps.
`The VNIN can only be generated in two ways:
A USSD code: * 346 * 3 * Your NIN * AgentCode# . Sycamore’s Identity agent is Identity Pass and their agent code is 696739.
The NIMC MWC Mobile App:Users can generate their VNIN on the app by clicking on the ‘GET VIRTUAL NIN’ tab on the Home screen.
Users who don’t have the mobile app downloaded should download it on google playstore or Apple store by searching for ‘NIMC Personal ID’
Next, the user can use the ‘Search Approved Enterprise’ option and input Sycamore’s agent code: 696739. The name Mainline Digitech Innovations(Identity Pass’s registered business name) will pop up on the list for the user to choose from.
Thank you as you comply.
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