Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
President Bola Tinubu has issued a direct and time-bound directive to the National Identity Management Commission, ordering the agency to expand National Identification Number enrolment to 95 per cent of Nigeria's population by December 2026, a target that would fundamentally reshape how Africa's most populous nation identifies and serves its citizens.
The directive was delivered on Wednesday at the State House in Abuja during the 2026 National Identity Day celebration, where Tinubu, represented by his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, acknowledged the commission's progress while making clear that the remaining gap must be closed with urgency. NIN enrolment currently stands at approximately 142 million, a significant leap from the over 80 million Nigerians captured in the National Identity Database when the administration assumed office more than three years ago. "Today, NIN enrolment stands at about 142 million, a remarkable increase from the over 80 million Nigerians captured in the National Identity Database when we assumed office," Tinubu said. "The next target is clear: we must work towards 95 per cent coverage by December 2026."
The President outlined a three-pronged strategy to achieve the ambitious target: expanded ward-level enrolment, mobile registration initiatives, and continued deployment of licensed enrolment networks. The ward-to-ward enrolment project, launched in February 2026, has been the primary engine of growth, deploying NIMC officers across the country's 8,809 wards and engaging National Youth Service Corps members as adult enrolment officers alongside front-end partners. NIMC Director-General Abisoye Coker-Odusote attributed the surge from fewer than 100 million to over 142 million enrolments largely to this initiative. "Our reach tells its own story," she said. "The engine behind that growth is the ward-to-ward enrolment project, undertaken directly under Mr President's initiative."
Beyond the raw numbers, Tinubu framed the identity agenda as foundational to Nigeria's digital future. He said the government was laying the groundwork for integrated digital services, including electronic health records, e-transport systems, and a more harmonised national data architecture. The theme of this year's celebration, "Nigeria's Digital Public Ecosystem: Powering Africa's Digital Economy," underscored the administration's ambition to position the country's identity infrastructure as a driver of continental economic growth. Tinubu also disclosed that the government was accelerating the development of a Sovereign Public Key Infrastructure as a trust layer within its broader Digital Public Infrastructure architecture, a system designed to enable secure digital signatures, trusted electronic documents, encrypted transactions, and authenticated government communications.
The President was careful to address the sensitive dimensions of the expansion, stressing that digital transformation must not come at the expense of citizens' rights. "We must do this while protecting the rights, privacy and dignity of our citizens," he said. "The digital state must never become a state without accountability. Innovation must be matched by responsibility. Efficiency must be matched by inclusion. Security must be matched by trust. And digital transformation must ultimately improve the lives of ordinary Nigerians." The warning carries particular weight in a country where human rights groups have raised concerns about the potential for digital identity systems to exclude vulnerable populations or enable surveillance overreach. A valid NIN is now required for healthcare, education, banking, employment, telecommunications, and social welfare, making enrolment not merely a bureaucratic exercise but a gateway to basic rights.
The economic dimension of the identity ecosystem was a central pillar of the President's address. Tinubu revealed that more than 173 private companies, 30 state governments, and 14 public-sector institutions had been licensed as enrolment agents, creating employment opportunities for enrolment officers, data professionals, supervisors, technology specialists, and support personnel. "This is a digital infrastructure creating real economic opportunity," he said. The job creation narrative is significant in a country grappling with high unemployment, particularly among young people, and positions the NIN expansion as more than a bureaucratic mandate.
On national security, Tinubu described a secure identity system as indispensable to combating identity fraud, financial crimes, and other threats. He cited collaboration between NIMC and institutions including the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Immigration Service, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as evidence of the benefits of integrated government systems. The connection between identity and security has been a recurring theme in Nigeria's policy discourse, where anonymity has long been identified as a factor enabling banditry, kidnapping, cyber fraud, and terrorism. Security analysts have argued that the inaccessibility of data silos to security agencies constitutes a major obstacle to effective law enforcement, and the President's emphasis on inter-agency cooperation signals a recognition of that gap.
Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo praised Coker-Odusote's leadership and urged the commission to make identity services wider, easier, and more accessible, including for Nigerians in the diaspora. He said Tinubu's assent to the NIMC Act 2026 provided a stronger legal foundation for digital identity management and the country's digital economy, and called for accelerated development of trusted PKI and DPI systems for secure authentication. "Your identity is your digital footprint," Tunji-Ojo told Nigerians, urging them to enrol and protect their credentials.
Minister of Education Tunji Alausa said the ministry was deploying NIN through the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative, with the identification number serving as the anchor for cleaning up an education database of more than 75 million students from basic to tertiary levels. He said NIN had become mandatory for JAMB registration and other examinations as part of efforts to curb malpractice and eliminate multiple identities, and that integration with NIMC had enabled more than 800,000 students to access financing through the Nigerian Education Loan Fund.
The challenges ahead are formidable. Nigeria's identity coverage gap remains substantial, and previous targets have been missed. Human rights organisations have documented systemic issues including mismatched records, misspelt names, and minor inconsistencies that trigger verification failures and lock citizens out of essential services. The enrolment process often requires internet access and proximity to registration centres, barriers in areas with inadequate broadband coverage. Funding and logistical difficulties, high fees for correcting NIN information, corruption in registration, and lack of access to remote and underserved communities have all impeded progress. The World Bank has noted that Nigeria still has "a considerable gap" in identity coverage, and stakeholders have proposed strategies to accelerate inclusive digital ID issuance, including reducing costs and expanding mobile enrolment.
Diaspora enrolment has emerged as a growing priority. NIMC has licensed foreign enrolment partners and rolled out digital tools including online pre-enrolment, NINAuth identity verification, and a self-service data modification portal. Diaspora NIN registrations surged 58 per cent, driven by the growing number of services requiring NIN and the commission's efforts to reach Nigerians abroad. The Self-Service Modification Platform has processed nearly two million record updates, reducing processing time for some changes from weeks to between 24 and 48 hours.
As Nigeria races toward the December deadline, the coming months will test whether the ward-level infrastructure, licensed agent network, and digital tools can deliver the scale of enrolment required. The 95 per cent target, if achieved, would place Nigeria among African leaders in digital identity coverage and provide the foundation for a digital economy that Tinubu insists must power not just Nigeria but the continent. Whether the deadline is met or missed, the directive has set a clear benchmark against which the administration's commitment to digital transformation will be judged.
📩 Stone Reporters News | 🌍 stonereportersnews.com
✉️ info@stonereportersnews.com | 📘 Facebook: Stone Reporters News | 🐦 X (Twitter): @StoneReportNew | 📸 Instagram: @stonereportersnews
Add comment
Comments