Tinubu issues directive, announces deadline
President Bola Tinubu has directed the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to register every Nigerian in the national identity database before the end of 2026.
This is part of efforts to build a complete national identity system for the country.
The move is aimed at improving government planning, public services and identity management across Nigeria.
The directive was made known by the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of NIMC, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
She said the commission has been instructed to reach every Nigerian, including people living in remote communities, before the deadline expires.
According to her, NIMC is working with partners through the World Bank-supported Identification for Development (ID4D) project to speed up registration across the country.
She explained that the commission has engaged trained private enrolment partners who now help register Nigerians as part of the national identity programme.
Coker-Odusote said the National Identification Number (NIN) remains a unique identity assigned to each individual, ensuring that every Nigerian has only one official identity record.
She added that the system is designed to stop multiple registrations and make identity management more reliable.
She also said the nationwide exercise will help Nigeria determine its actual population.
She noted that different estimates currently place the country’s population between 200 million and 250 million people, making it difficult for the government to plan accurately.
She said having reliable identity records will give authorities a clearer picture of the country’s population and improve decision-making in different sectors.
The NIMC boss explained that the commission has been directed to extend the exercise to the grassroots so that people in every community can be registered.
She said a complete identity database is necessary for proper planning and the delivery of public services.
Addressing concerns about duplicate registrations, Coker-Odusote said the commission’s upgraded biometric system now detects repeated attempts to register before new records are accepted into the database.
She explained that the previous system only identified duplicate entries after they had already been submitted, but the new process checks identity details at the point of registration.
She said if someone attempts to register more than once, the system identifies the existing record, while any duplicate entry is removed from the database.
Fingerprints and facial recognition technology are also used to confirm each person’s identity, making it extremely difficult for anyone to keep more than one official identity.
Coker-Odusote added that the 2026 NIMC Act has strengthened the commission’s authority over biometric identity management.
She said government agencies and private organisations will no longer maintain separate biometric databases but will instead verify identities through NIMC using application programming interface (API) connections.
She explained that telecommunications companies already use this arrangement when processing SIM card registrations by comparing facial biometric information with NIMC records in real time before confirming a person’s identity.
The development comes weeks after President Tinubu signed the National Identity Management Commission Act 2026 into law on June 26.
The new law replaces the 2007 Act and strengthens the Federal Government’s One Person, One Identity policy.
It also makes the National Identification Number the main identity requirement for accessing key government and private sector services, including banking, passport applications, tax services, pensions, land transactions and consumer credit.
