From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Director General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Abisoye Coker-Odusote, has disclosed that over 120 million Nigerians have been successfully enrolled into the country’s national identity database.
Coker-Odusote made this known at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday.
According to her, the milestone reflects the Commission’s ongoing efforts to build a comprehensive and accessible identity system for all Nigerians and legal residents.
“As of yesterday morning, we had enrolled 120,040,000 Nigerians. We have enrolled that many Nigerians and counting.
“So we are definitely going to continue to ensure that we enroll more Nigerians and hopefully capture more Nigerians before the end of this year, and we have now expanded our enrollment capacity from 100 million to 250 million,” she stated.
The NIMC boss further revealed that the Commission was taking steps to ensure nationwide inclusion by bringing enrollment services down to the grassroots.
“We are decentralising the process, moving from local governments to ward levels to ease access for Nigerians, especially in remote areas where logistics and transportation are a challenge,” she explained.
Coker-Odusote noted that the expansion aligns with NIMC’s broader strategy under the Digital Identification for Development (ID4D) project, supported by the World Bank, which also includes integrating private sector partners known as Front End Partners to accelerate enrollment nationwide.
Beyond enrollment, she said that NIMC has also rolled out a new self-assist modification platform for users to update their records online, reducing crowding at registration centers.
Coker-Odusote emphasised that the NIN is now essential for accessing various government and private sector services including student loans, credit facilities, passport issuance, school feeding programs, and agricultural interventions. She noted that the NIN is becoming the foundational identity platform on which all other functional data from Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) now rely.
She reassured Nigerians of the security of their data, noting that NIMC has upgraded its systems and partnered with cybersecurity agencies to tackle fake websites and unauthorized data access.
“Please note that cybersecurity in-house is good but we must continue to ensure that we strengthen it in accordance with international best practices and that’s what we’re doing. So we want to assure Nigerians that your data is safe with us ,“ she stated.
The NIMC DG added that the Commission will continue to prioritise inclusiveness, data protection and seamless service delivery to ensure that every Nigerian is captured and empowered through a verifiable digital identity.