The Federal Government has intensified efforts to achieve universal digital identity enrolment across the country through a strengthened partnership 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 while receiving the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Engr. (Dr.) Abisoye Coker-Odusote, and her management team on a courtesy visit in Abuja to present the landmark provisions and strategic implications of the newly enacted NIMC Act 2026.
The minister said a comprehensive national identity system is critical to effective governance, national planning, financial inclusion, and digital transformation, noting that the initiative supports the implementation of the Renewed Hope Agenda.
“Identity management is at the heart of the reform agenda of Mr. President, because if you are reforming, you have to know who you are reforming for. If you don’t know the number of people that you have and the demography and what they represent, how do you plan for them?” he said.
Idris commended NIMC for enrolling over 136 million Nigerians and legal residents into the National Identity Database, describing the achievement as significant progress toward building a reliable national identity ecosystem.
“The 136 million already captured is very significant, but we still have about 100 million Nigerians left, and they also ought to be captured. Every Nigerian deserves to be included in our national planning,” he said.
The minister urged NIMC to strengthen its collaboration with the National Orientation Agency (NOA), whose presence in all the 774 Local Government Areas would help drive grassroots sensitisation and boost enrolment.
He also lauded the commission for maintaining a secure identity ecosystem without any reported data breaches, assuring NIMC that all public communication platforms under the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, including the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), would be fully deployed to support nationwide sensitisation on the benefits of digital identity.
Earlier, the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, reaffirmed the Agency’s readiness to support the nationwide enrolment campaign to ensure greater public participation, particularly in rural communities.
He added that the Agency would continue to work closely with NIMC to ensure that citizens in rural and underserved communities understand the importance of obtaining a National Identification Number (NIN) and are not excluded from government programmes and services.
Also speaking, the Head of Corporate Communications at NIMC, Dr. Kayode Adegoke, said the legislation establishes the legal framework for Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), stronger data privacy protections and wider application of the National Identification Number across government and private sector services.
He revealed that the Commission has successfully integrated with more than 250 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) while introducing digital innovations that have significantly improved service delivery and reduced enrolment time for Nigerians.
“NIMC has evolved from a database custodian to Nigeria’s foundational identity authority. NIMC is now the only authorised commission for digital identity management in Nigeria,” Adegoke stated.
Responding, the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of NIMC, Engr. (Dr.) Abisoye Coker-Odusote, said the Commission had commenced a ward-by-ward enrolment exercise across the country’s 8,809 political wards to ensure that every eligible Nigerian is captured in the National Identity Database.
She added that the newly enacted NIMC Act 2026 strengthens Nigeria’s identity management framework through Improved data protection, cybersecurity, digital public infrastructure and digital trust while positioning NIMC as the country’s foundational digital identity authority.
“The President gave us marching orders to commence the ward enrolment exercise because he wanted the people in the rural areas and at the community level not to be disenfranchised from any government intervention programme,” Coker-Odusote said.
The courtesy visit was attended by the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu; the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Engr. (Dr.) Abisoye Coker-Odusote; the Director of Production, Publication and Documentation, Mr. Ibidapo Okunnu; the Deputy Director of Public Relations and Protocol, Ms. Fatoke Folasade; alongside other senior management staff of the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation and officials of the National Identity Management Commission.
