Can I look up a NIN from a phone number or name?

No. Every method needs the NIN, a share code or a selfie up front; Speedmap does not offer reverse lookup.

Which businesses can use raw NIN lookup?

NIMC restricts raw NIN to financial institutions and government agencies, enabled after the compliance review. Other businesses use NIN plus selfie or a NINAuth share code.

What is the reason field?

NIMC requires one of 38 purpose codes on every NIN check, such as financialProducts or employmentRecruitment. Speedmap enforces the list on every channel.

What happens if NIMC does not respond in time?

You receive 202 with status pending and a reference_id; GET /v1/verifications/{reference_id} re-queries the provider. You are billed once, when the result resolves.

Identity

NIN verification against the NIMC record

Verify a National Identity Number by raw NIN, NIN plus selfie, or NINAuth share code, with a purpose code on every call.

Create an account Read the docs

What it does

NIN Verification, in detail.

Three verification methods

Raw NIN for financial institutions and government, NIN plus selfie for any business, or a six-character NINAuth share code.

Field-by-field matching

Send the names and date of birth you collected; field_matches says which agree, and field_confidence scores each name 0–100.

Nickname-tolerant names

field_confidence allows for nicknames and spelling variants, so Seun scores high against Oluwaseun.

Purpose code enforced

Every call carries one of the 38 NIMC purpose codes, validated against a fixed enum on the API and MCP server.

Recoverable by reference

A slow NIMC response returns 202 with a reference_id, and the result resolves on requery.

Repeat-subject signals

repeat_count_30d and a platform-wide repeat bucket show a NIN checked many times this month, with no personal data shared.

Methods

Every method returns the same normalized verification object. The method, consent mechanism and purpose code are stored with each result.

Method	Input	Returns	Consent	Access
nin	11-digit NIN, reason, consent attestation	Full record or assertion	Client attested	Financial institutions and government (NIMC rule)
in_person	NIN, Base64 JPEG selfie, reason	Full record or assertion	The selfie is the consent	All business types
share_code	6-character NINAuth code, reason	Full record or assertion	The code is the consent	All business types

nin
Input
11-digit NIN, reason, consent attestation
Returns
Full record or assertion
Consent
Client attested
Access
Financial institutions and government (NIMC rule)
in_person
Input
NIN, Base64 JPEG selfie, reason
Returns
Full record or assertion
Consent
The selfie is the consent
Access
All business types
share_code
Input
6-character NINAuth code, reason
Returns
Full record or assertion
Consent
The code is the consent
Access
All business types

How it works

From request to decision.

1
Collect NIN and consent
Capture the NIN, share code or selfie and consent in your flow, or send a hosted link.
2
Call POST /v1/verify/nin
Set the method, the purpose code and any fields to compare.
3
Act on the assertion
Read status, match and field_matches; reveal the record in the dashboard only when needed, with every reveal audited.

Routing and providers

NIN lookups run through the NIMC-designated verification channel, with NIBSS FAS as an alternative path. Speedmap has no direct NIMC database access and offers no reverse lookup.

Use it

One request. One normalized response.

Call POST /v1/verify/nin through @speedmap/node, speedmap for Python, or the verify_nin tool in Speedmap Connect.

Read the guide API reference

Request

curl -X POST http://localhost:4000/v1/verify/nin \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_test_..." \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "method": "nin",
  "nin": "98765432109",
  "reason": "financialProducts",
  "consent": {
    "obtained": true
  },
  "match": {
    "last_name": "Griffin",
    "date_of_birth": "1992-04-18"
  }
}'

Response · 200 OK

{
  "reference_id": "spm_767daf1d2bd7de981fd661f5",
  "object": "verification",
  "product": "nin",
  "method": "nin_raw",
  "status": "verified",
  "match": true,
  "field_matches": {
    "last_name": true,
    "date_of_birth": true
  },
  "mode": "sandbox",
  "reason": "financialProducts",
  "subject": "*******2109",
  "summary": {
    "first_name": "A*****",
    "last_name": "O*****",
    "repeat_count_30d": 1,
    "repeat_platform_bucket": "0"
  },
  "consent": {
    "mechanism": "client_attested",
    "consent_id": null
  }
}

Use cases

Where Nigerian teams use it.

Lending and BNPL

Confirm the borrower’s name and date of birth agree with the NIMC record before a credit decision.

Account opening

Tier-1 KYC for wallets and microfinance accounts, with a purpose code and consent mechanism on every record.

Driver onboarding

Verify riders and contractors under employmentRecruitment, by link, from the dashboard or in bulk.

Agent networks

Verify agents at signup, then re-check in bulk during network audits.

Part of:Marketplaces Mobility & logistics Insurance HR & gig platforms Government & agencies

What you get back

The fields you will read.

Field	Meaning
status	verified, not_found, pending or failed
match / field_matches	Whether every supplied field agrees, and which did not
field_confidence	0–100 per name field, tolerant of nicknames and spellings
subject	The NIN, masked to its last four digits
summary	Masked first and last name, repeat-subject counters
consent.mechanism	client_attested, in_person_selfie or ninauth_share_code
reference_id	Stable id for requery, webhooks and the audit log

status
Meaning
verified, not_found, pending or failed
match / field_matches
Meaning
Whether every supplied field agrees, and which did not
field_confidence
Meaning
0–100 per name field, tolerant of nicknames and spellings
subject
Meaning
The NIN, masked to its last four digits
summary
Meaning
Masked first and last name, repeat-subject counters
consent.mechanism
Meaning
client_attested, in_person_selfie or ninauth_share_code
reference_id
Meaning
Stable id for requery, webhooks and the audit log

Assertion tier

Everything above. No name, address or photo in clear.

Full tier

Adds data: the normalized NIMC record (names, date of birth, gender, phone, residential address, state of origin and photo) for workspaces approved for the full tier.

Pricing

Billed per live check on the Scale up plan. Failed calls and idempotent retries are never billed.

Documentation See pricing plans

FAQ

NIN Verification questions.

Need more detail? Read the documentation or talk to our team.

Can I look up a NIN from a phone number or name?: No. Every method needs the NIN, a share code or a selfie up front; Speedmap does not offer reverse lookup.
Which businesses can use raw NIN lookup?: NIMC restricts raw NIN to financial institutions and government agencies, enabled after the compliance review. Other businesses use NIN plus selfie or a NINAuth share code.
What is the reason field?: NIMC requires one of 38 purpose codes on every NIN check, such as financialProducts or employmentRecruitment. Speedmap enforces the list on every channel.
What happens if NIMC does not respond in time?: You receive 202 with status pending and a reference_id; GET /v1/verifications/{reference_id} re-queries the provider. You are billed once, when the result resolves.

Start verifying in minutes. Go live when you’re ready.

Create your account in under a minute and explore the full dashboard. We switch your workspace live after a short compliance review.

Create an account Read the quickstart