President Bola Tinubu has directed the National Identity Management Commission to work towards achieving 95 per cent National Identification Number coverage by December.
Tinubu gave the directive on Wednesday in Abuja during the National Identity Day celebration organised by NIMC. He was represented at the event, themed “Nigeria’s digital public ecosystem: powering Africa’s digital economy,” by his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila.
The President commended NIMC for increasing NIN enrolment from more than 80 million to 142 million Nigerians and legal residents since he assumed office. He called for further expansion through ward-level enrolment, mobile registration and licensed enrolment networks.
Tinubu said his administration’s objective extended beyond increasing coverage, stressing the need for an identity system that remains useful, secure and responsive. He said the government was working towards integrated digital services, including e-health records, e-transport systems and a more harmonised national data architecture.
He also linked secure identity management to national security, saying stronger identity verification and responsible information sharing could help combat identity fraud, financial crimes and other security threats. He cited collaboration between NIMC, the police, Immigration Service and EFCC as an example of inter-agency cooperation.
Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said Nigerians, including those in the diaspora, needed wider and more convenient access to identity services. NIMC Director-General Abisoye Coker-Odusote said enrolment had exceeded 142 million, while the commission’s ward-to-ward project had taken registration services to all 8,809 wards.
Coker-Odusote also said NIMC’s Self-Service Notification Platform had processed nearly two million record updates, reducing the time required for some changes to between 24 and 48 hours. She attributed the expansion of the identity ecosystem to government support and partnerships with licensed private companies, state governments and public institutions.
