By Ono Yima
The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has come under criticism following its announcement of a new price of N28,574 for correcting date of birth (DOB) errors in the National Identification Number (NIN) database. A legal expert, Barrister Oladipupo Ige, Director of Policy and Managing Partner at the Data Privacy Lawyers Association (DPLAN), argues that this move may contravene existing data protection regulations.
In an interview with Nairametrics, Ige said the NIMC has failed to inform Nigerians of the exceptions to payment for DOB correction as outlined in Nigerian data laws. He cited Article 36 of the General Application and Implementation Directive (GAID) 2025, which addresses the right to rectification. According to Section 4 of the Article, if the error was made by a data controller or processor and not the data subject, the correction should be free of charge.
“The law is clear that if the DOB correction is the fault of the citizen, then they must pay. But if not, such rectification is free of charge per law,” Ige stated. “What the NIMC needs to do is to clarify that position and make sure Nigerians don’t pay 28k for the mistake of the NIMC.”
He emphasized that although NIMC is within its rights to increase fees for its services, it does not have the right to apply such charges universally, without first establishing who caused the DOB error. “It will amount to a contravention of the law for the citizen to pay N28,000 for DOB correction if the mistake was made by the Commission,” he said.
Ige insisted that Nigerians must be given clear explanations for the causes of data errors and why they should bear the cost. “NIMC must be accountable and ensure that rectification fees are not applied indiscriminately,” he added.
In its official statement, NIMC justified the fee hike as a response to broader fiscal and operational considerations. The Commission said the upward review of charges was influenced by its mandate to increase revenue, harmonize tax frameworks, and expand its range of services.
“Following due consultation with all departments and in consideration of the above and current market realities of inflation at 32.70%, we propose an upward review in the fees and charges for our product and services with a markup at least 20% across with exceptions to certain services per their peculiarities,” NIMC stated.
The Commission also compared its revised charges with those of sister agencies, such as the Nigeria Immigration Service and the Federal Road Safety Corps, which offer similar services like passport and driver’s license processing. NIMC added that it was working toward self-sustainability while maintaining critical infrastructure for national data management.