By Chioma Favour
The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) says it has enrolled more than 136 million Nigerians and legal residents into the country’s National Identity Database (NIDB), marking a major milestone as the newly enacted identity management law comes into effect.
The announcement was made by the Commission’s Director-General, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, during a courtesy visit to the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning as part of stakeholder engagements on implementing the new NIMC Act.
According to Coker-Odusote, the new law replaces the 2007 NIMC Act and is designed to modernise Nigeria’s digital identity system by making the National Identification Number (NIN) the country’s primary identity under the “one person, one identity” policy.
She explained that the legislation also establishes NIMC as the root certificate authority for Nigeria’s digital identity infrastructure while introducing stronger data protection, cybersecurity measures and digital identity credentials.
The Director-General reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to ensuring that every Nigerian and legal resident is enrolled and issued a National Identification Number within the shortest possible time.
She also expressed the Commission’s readiness to work closely with the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning to leverage the NIN for national planning, economic development and improved public service delivery.
Responding, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, described the NIMC Act 2026 as a landmark legislation that would strengthen Nigeria’s digital identity ecosystem and support national development.
Bagudu commended the leadership of NIMC for facilitating the passage of the Act, noting that it provides a stronger legal framework for a secure, trusted and inclusive national identity system.
The minister stressed that the success of the law would depend on its effective implementation and called for greater collaboration among federal, state and local governments to eliminate multiple identity databases across government institutions.
He added that the National Identification Number should become Nigeria’s universally accepted identity standard to improve governance, planning and public service delivery.
