Key points
- President Bola Tinubu has directed NIMC to enrol every Nigerian in the national identity database before the end of 2026.
- Nigeria’s population is currently estimated at between 200 million and 250 million people.
- NIMC is expanding enrolment through private front-end partners under the World Bank-supported ID4D project.
- The NIMC Act 2026 strengthens the “One Person, One Identity” policy and expands the use of NIN across essential public and private services.
Main Story
President Bola Tinubu has directed the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to enrol every Nigerian in the national identity database before the end of 2026 as the Federal Government moves to establish a comprehensive digital identity system.
The Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of NIMC, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, disclosed this during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
“The President has given us till the end of this year to make sure that we capture every single Nigerian,” Coker-Odusote said.
The directive is expected to accelerate Nigeria’s national identity enrolment programme and provide the government with more reliable population data for planning, governance and public service delivery.
Coker-Odusote said NIMC is working with private front-end partners through the World Bank-supported Identification for Development (ID4D) project to extend enrolment to communities nationwide.
The partners, which form part of Nigeria’s digital identity ecosystem, have been authorised to register citizens on behalf of the commission.
According to the NIMC boss, the agency has been mandated to expand enrolment to the community level to ensure wider coverage across the country.
The Issues
Nigeria’s actual population remains a subject of varying estimates, with figures ranging from about 200 million to as high as 250 million people.
Coker-Odusote said completing the national identity enrolment exercise could provide clearer data on the number of people in the country.
“It is estimated that we’re 200 million. When we’re done enrolling, we will then know the actual numbers that we have. Some estimates say 230 million, while a few people say 250 million,” she said.
The absence of a comprehensive national identity database has implications for government planning and the delivery of public services.
According to Coker-Odusote, accurate identity data is essential for determining the population requiring infrastructure and government services.
“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 persons that you have?” she said.
Another challenge is the risk of duplicate identity registrations.
NIMC said its biometric verification and deduplication systems are designed to ensure that each Nigerian receives only one unique National Identification Number.
What’s Being Said
“What we have done is we have partnered through the World Bank ID4D project with front-end partners. They are part of the digital identity ecosystem,” Coker-Odusote said.
“These are private citizens that we’ve enabled and given jobs to enrol citizens on our behalf.”
She explained that the NIN functions as a unique identifier designed to prevent multiple identities.
“That’s why it’s called a unique identifier, so that you’re only enrolled once,” she said.
On biometric verification, Coker-Odusote said fingerprints and facial recognition are increasingly being used to validate identities against NIMC’s database.
“The telcos 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,” she said.
What’s Next
NIMC is expected to intensify community-level enrolment across Nigeria ahead of the December 2026 deadline.
The commission will continue to deploy front-end partners under the ID4D project to expand access to identity registration.
Private and public sector organisations are also expected to increasingly validate customer identities through API integrations with NIMC rather than independently maintaining separate biometric databases.
The implementation of the NIMC Act 2026 is expected to further expand the role of NIN as Nigeria’s foundational identity credential.
Bottom Line
Tinubu’s 2026 deadline places pressure on NIMC to expand national identity enrolment to Nigeria’s estimated 200 million to 250 million population. A comprehensive identity database could strengthen government planning and service delivery while expanding NIN-based verification across banking, telecommunications, passports, taxes, pensions, land transactions and consumer credit.
