The Federal Government has intensified efforts to ensure that every Nigerian is enrolled in the country's digital identity system by strengthening collaboration between the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this in Abuja while receiving the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of NIMC, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, and her delegation during a courtesy visit to present key provisions of the newly enacted NIMC Act 2026.
The minister described a robust national identity system as critical to effective governance, economic planning, financial inclusion, digital transformation and the implementation of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's Renewed Hope Agenda.
According to Idris, more than 136 million Nigerians have already been registered, describing the figure as significant progress. However, he noted that nearly 100 million Nigerians are yet to be enrolled, stressing that every citizen should be captured in the national identity database to benefit from government programmes and national development initiatives.
He emphasized that achieving universal enrollment would require sustained public awareness campaigns, particularly at the grassroots, and urged NIMC to deepen its partnership with the National Orientation Agency (NOA), which has offices across all 774 local government areas of the country.
The minister also commended NIMC for maintaining the security of citizens' data, noting that the commission has not recorded any reported breach exposing registrants' personal information. He pledged the ministry's continued support through its media platforms to promote public awareness on digital identity registration.
Speaking during the visit, NIMC Director-General Abisoye Coker-Odusote said the NIMC Act 2026 modernises Nigeria's digital identity framework with stronger provisions on data protection, cybersecurity, digital public infrastructure and public confidence in digital services.
She disclosed that President Tinubu had directed the commission to commence ward-to-ward registration across the country to ensure that rural residents and underserved communities are not excluded from government interventions.
According to her, NIMC has begun enrollment campaigns across 8,809 political wards nationwide, targeting women, children, persons with disabilities, rural dwellers, internally displaced persons, legally resident foreigners and Nigerians living abroad.
Also speaking, NIMC Head of Corporate Communications, Dr. Kayode Adegoke, said the new law establishes the commission as Nigeria's sole authority responsible for managing the country's digital identity ecosystem. He added that NIMC has integrated its services with more than 250 ministries, departments and agencies, while deploying new technologies to improve registration efficiency and expand the use of the National Identification Number (NIN) across public and private sector services.
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