The federal government has set a December 2026 deadline to raise National Identification Number (NIN) enrolment coverage to 95 per cent of the population, in a fresh push to close Nigeria’s identity gap and strengthen the country’s digital identity infrastructure.
President Bola Tinubu gave the directive yesterday in Abuja during the 2026 National Identity Day celebration organised by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), where he said NIN enrolment had risen to about 142 million from more than 80 million people captured in the National Identity Database when his administration assumed office.
Represented by his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, the president said the immediate priority was to reach 95 per cent coverage through expanded ward-level registration, mobile enrolment and the continued deployment of licensed registration agents.
“The next target is clear: we must work towards 95 per cent coverage by December 2026,” Tinubu said.
The target comes as the administration seeks to make the national identity system a core component of Nigeria’s emerging digital public infrastructure, with the government linking reliable identity verification to the delivery of public and private-sector services.
Tinubu said the government was working towards an interconnected digital system that could support services including electronic health records, transport systems and more coordinated government data. He, however, stressed that the expansion of digital identity must be accompanied by safeguards for citizens’ privacy and rights.
The president also linked a stronger identity system to efforts to combat identity fraud and financial crimes, saying improved identity verification and information sharing among government agencies could strengthen national security.
NIMC Director-General, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, said enrolment had increased to more than 142 million Nigerians and legal residents, attributing much of the growth to the commission’s ward-to-ward enrolment initiative.
According to her, the initiative has extended registration services to Nigeria’s 8,809 wards, with National Youth Service Corps members deployed as adult enrolment officers alongside NIMC’s front-end partners.
The commission has also introduced a Self-Service Modification Platform, which NIMC said had processed nearly two million record modifications and reduced the processing time for some changes from several weeks to between 24 and 48 hours.
The push for wider NIN coverage also comes against the backdrop of the newly enacted NIMC Act 2026, which strengthens NIMC’s statutory role and establishes NIN as the country’s foundational identity credential. The law also gives NIMC responsibility as the Root Certification Authority for Nigeria’s National Public Key Infrastructure and Digital Public Infrastructure.
Under the new framework, NIN is expected to support identity verification across areas including banking, international travel, driver’s licensing, voter registration, taxation, pensions and access to government welfare services. NIMC says the number is intended to uniquely link an individual’s identity records while preventing duplicate identities.
Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said the expansion of the identity system would be important to economic growth, national security and social inclusion, while calling for wider access to NIN services, including for Nigerians living abroad.
With enrolment currently at about 142 million and the government targeting 95 per cent coverage before the end of December, the remaining months of 2026 will place greater pressure on NIMC’s nationwide registration network to reach Nigerians who remain outside the national identity database.
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