Losing your NIN slip is common, and NIMC has a route back to a replacement. Here is how it works and what it costs.
Our catalogue page covers requesting a reissue once you have what you need together.
Report the loss first
Note when and where you lost the slip. Consider a police report as a record of the loss, especially if other documents went missing with it. NIMC has not published this as a mandatory step, but it is a sensible precaution.
Acting soon after the loss, while the details are fresh, makes the rest of the process easier. Waiting months rarely helps and can make a police report harder to write up accurately.
What to gather
- Your NIN itself, if you remember it, or another way to identify your record.
- A form of your own identification for verification.
- Your phone number and email address, ideally matching what NIMC has on file.
If you cannot recall your NIN at all, retrieving it first, for example by USSD, is worth doing before you request a replacement slip. Reissuing a slip you cannot identify by number takes longer than it needs to.
Two routes to a replacement
You have two options: print a replacement yourself, or go through a formal reissue.
Self-printing produces the improved slip, printed on on plain A4 paper, front and back. Our guide to printing it covers the steps, including a payment stage NIMC has not published a fixed amount for.
A formal reissue currently costs ₦600. Our cost breakdown sets this fee against the other paid options side by side, including a free digital option worth knowing about.
Choose based on what you actually need next. A quick digital proof for an urgent form favours self-printing; a fresh physical slip for everyday use favours the formal reissue.
What it costs
Standard reissue is ₦600. Check nimc.gov.ng/fees before you pay, since a figure quoted to you should match what NIMC has published.
Anyone asking for noticeably more than the published figure, for an ordinary reissue, is worth questioning before you hand over anything.
Keeping the new one safe
Once you have a replacement, in either format, keep a note of your NIN somewhere separate from the physical slip. That way, losing the paper again does not mean losing access to the number itself.
A single, agreed storage place at home for identity documents makes the next loss, if there is one, far less stressful.
Common mistakes
- Paying more than ₦600 for a standard reissue. Confirm the current figure at nimc.gov.ng/fees first.
- Not noting your NIN anywhere else. A lost slip is a bigger problem if the number itself is not written down somewhere safe.
- Assuming self-printing and a formal reissue are the same process. They are different routes, with different steps and different confirmed costs.
- Skipping identification at the point of reissue. Have your own ID ready, since a reissue is meant to reach the right person.