NIMC Enrolment Hits Over 140m In Three Years — FG

The federal government has disclosed that enrolment in Nigeria’s national identity database has risen from about 100 million surpassing over 140 million National Identification Numbers in the past three years.

The government attributed the growth to the expansion of enrolment services by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) particularly the Ward-to-Ward Enrolment Project, which took registration services to communities across the country.

The disclosure was made on Wednesday in Abuja at NIMC’s 2026 National Day of Identity celebration, held to mark the eighth edition of the event with the theme, “Nigeria’s Digital Ecosystem: Powering Africa’s Digital Economy.”

President Bola Tinubu, represented by his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, said the expansion of the national identity system had become central to Nigeria’s digital transformation and economic development.

Tinubu said his administration had repositioned identity management from a mere registration exercise into critical digital infrastructure capable of supporting access to government services, financial inclusion, economic activities, social protection and national security.

He said, “When this administration came into office, Nigeria’s identity database stood at approximately 80 million NINs. Today, that figure is approaching 140 million NINs.”

The President said the increase represented more than statistics, stressing that every NIN represented a Nigerian or legal resident with a recognised identity and greater ability to participate in the formal economy and access government services.

According to him, the national identity infrastructure now has the capacity to accommodate 250 million records, providing the scale required to support Nigeria’s growing population and development ambitions.

He said the government had also taken identity registration closer to citizens through the ward-level enrolment drive launched in February 2026 to provide free NIN registration across 8,809 wards nationwide.

Tinubu added that more than 5,000 enrolment agents had been trained to improve access for persons with disabilities, elderly citizens and other vulnerable groups.

He said the administration’s identity reforms were anchored on the principle that no Nigerian should be excluded from the national identity system because of location, physical circumstances or economic condition.

The President also highlighted the enactment of the National Identity Management Commission Act 2026, which repealed the 2007 legislation and introduced a new legal framework for identity management.

He said the new law strengthened institutional arrangements, expanded identity integration across critical sectors, reinforced safeguards for personal data, increased penalties for identity-related offences and provided a stronger governance structure for the national identity ecosystem.

Tinubu said the integration of the NIN into taxation, banking, healthcare, voter registration and land transactions was driven by the principle of “one person, one trusted identity” and seamless access to public services.

He also cited the launch of the NINAuth application on October 30, 2025, describing it as a consent-based and citizen-controlled digital authentication platform designed to give Nigerians greater awareness and control over the use of their digital identities.

The President said the re-launch of the General Multipurpose Card would further provide Nigerians with a smart national identity card capable of supporting identity verification, financial transactions, government benefit delivery and travel.

Tinubu said the identity ecosystem was also contributing to job creation, noting that more than 173 private companies, 30 state governments and 14 public-sector institutions had approved licensed enrolment agents.

He said the expansion was generating employment for enrolment officers, data professionals, supervisors, technology specialists and other support personnel.

On taxation, the President said that from January 2026, under the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, the NIN serves as the Tax Identification Number for individuals.

He said the development would eliminate unnecessary duplication and simplify tax compliance for citizens and businesses.

Tinubu further said NIN-linked verification was strengthening financial inclusion, citing the Nigerian Education Loan Fund programme through which more than 800,000 students had accessed educational financing.

He linked the identity system to national security, saying stronger identity verification and responsible information-sharing among government institutions would improve the country’s ability to combat identity fraud, financial crimes and other security threats.

The President cited collaboration among the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Immigration Service and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as examples of the benefits of interconnected government systems.

He added that the integration of the NIN with the Nigeria Revenue Service, National Population Commission and Nigeria Immigration Service was creating a more connected public-service architecture.

Tinubu said the requirement of the NIN for the issuance of ECOWAS passports would further strengthen regional identity management and support safer and more efficient movement across West Africa.

Looking beyond Nigeria, the President said the country had the scale, talent and entrepreneurial energy needed to contribute significantly to Africa’s digital economy.

He said the government was accelerating the development of a sovereign Public Key Infrastructure as a critical trust layer for the country’s broader Digital Public Infrastructure architecture.

According to him, the infrastructure would support secure digital signatures, trusted electronic documents, encrypted transactions and secure government communications adding that digital transformation must be accompanied by protection of citizens’ rights, privacy and dignity.

Earlier, the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of NIMC, Dr Abisoye Coker-Odusote, highlighted the commission’s expansion of enrolment services and digital identity infrastructure.

Coker-Odusote said the Ward-to-Ward initiative deployed NIMC officials to all 8,809 wards across the federation and engaged National Youth Service Corps members as ad-hoc enrolment officers in communities that had previously lacked access to enrolment centres.

She said the commission had also introduced a Self-Service Modification Platform, which had processed nearly two million record updates and reduced the time required for modifications from weeks to between 24 and 48 hours.

She added that the Pre-Enrolment Portal allowed applicants to book appointments and submit basic information online before visiting enrolment centres.

According to her, NIMC had extended identity enrolment to refugees and internally displaced persons through partnerships with UNICEF and UNHCR, inmates in correctional facilities, newborns through collaboration with the National Population Commission, as well as Nigerians and legal residents in the diaspora.

She said enrolment services now covered nearly 1,000 diaspora locations across 38 countries, stressing that the commission’s efforts were aimed at ensuring that Nigerians were not excluded from government services and economic opportunities because of their location or social circumstances.

She said NIMC’s next priority was to reach people who remained outside the national identity system, particularly those in hard-to-reach communities.

The 2026 National Day of Identity underscores the growing role of trusted digital identity in financial inclusion, digital commerce, social protection, healthcare, education, mobility and other public and private services.