President Bola Tinubu has directed the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to ensure that every Nigerian is enrolled in the national identity database before the end of 2026, the agency’s Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, has disclosed.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Coker-Odusote said the directive is part of the Federal Government’s broader plan to build a comprehensive national identity system that will strengthen governance, improve national planning, and enhance service delivery.
“The President has given us till the end of this year to make sure that we capture every single Nigerian,” she said.
Coker-Odusote explained that NIMC is accelerating nationwide enrolment through partnerships with private-sector organisations under the World Bank-supported Identification for Development (ID4D) programme.
“What we have done is partner through the World Bank ID4D project with front-end partners who are part of the digital identity ecosystem. These are private organisations that we’ve empowered to enrol citizens on our behalf,” she said.
She reiterated that the National Identification Number (NIN) serves as a unique identifier, ensuring that each individual is registered only once.
“That’s why it’s called a unique identifier, so that you’re only enrolled once,” she added.
Identity database critical for national planning
Coker-Odusote said Nigeria’s true population remains uncertain, with estimates ranging from 200 million to 250 million, making a comprehensive identity database crucial for effective planning and policymaking.
“It is estimated that we’re 200 million. When we’re done enrolling, we will then know the actual number of people we have. Some estimates say 230 million, while others put it at 250 million.
“Your identity is basically the foundation for effective governance and service delivery. How can you plan if you don’t know the total number of people you have? We have been mandated by Mr President to go down to the community level to enrol every single Nigerian.”
Biometric system prevents multiple identities
Addressing concerns about the possibility of individuals obtaining multiple identities by registering in different locations or under different names, the NIMC chief said the commission’s biometric verification system effectively prevents duplicate registrations.
She explained that while the previous system accepted enrolments before identifying duplicates, the upgraded platform now detects and invalidates multiple registrations automatically.
“The legacy system had no way of verifying at the front end whether you had already been captured. Once the record comes into the system, it flags it as a duplicate or confirms that the person already exists in the database.
“You would only have one identity generated for you. The other record goes into a deduplication bucket where it is invalidated.”
According to her, biometric verification—including fingerprint and facial recognition technology—makes it virtually impossible for one person to maintain multiple identities.
“Absolutely. One of the things this Act has done is cement our role in capturing biometrics. Private and public sector organisations will no longer capture biometrics independently. Instead, they will validate identities through API integration with NIMC.
“The telecom operators are already doing that with us. If you need a SIM card, they capture your facial biometrics, which are matched against our database in real time to confirm that you are who you claim to be. We’re using biometric validation to tighten security around identity confirmation.”
New NIMC Act strengthens identity management
Coker-Odusote’s remarks come weeks after President Tinubu signed the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Act 2026 into law on June 26, repealing the 2007 legislation.
The new law reinforces the government’s “One Person, One Identity” policy by establishing the National Identification Number (NIN) as Nigeria’s foundational identity credential for accessing government and essential private-sector services, including banking, passport applications, tax administration, pensions, land transactions and consumer credit.
It also introduces tougher penalties for identity theft, multiple registrations and unauthorised access to personal identity data, while strengthening data privacy protections and expanding NIMC’s powers to investigate identity-related offences.
