President Bola Tinubu has said that strengthening Nigeria’s national identity system is improving the country’s capacity to tackle identity fraud, financial crimes, terrorism and other threats to national security.
Tinubu stated this on Wednesday in Abuja while delivering the keynote address at the eighth National Day of Identity celebration, themed, “Nigeria’s Digital Public Ecosystem: Powering Africa’s Digital Economy.”
The President, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, said a secure and trusted identity system was indispensable to national security, effective governance, financial inclusion and the development of Nigeria’s digital economy.
According to him, the administration inherited a national identity system with millions of Nigerians lacking formal and verifiable identities, while fragmented records weakened planning, accountability and the delivery of government programmes.
“Without trusted identity, national security is weakened. And without trusted identity, a truly digital economy cannot flourish,” he said.
Tinubu said the number of National Identification Numbers (NINs) in the national identity database had increased from about 80 million when his administration assumed office to nearly 140 million.
He said the national identity infrastructure had also been expanded to accommodate up to 250 million records, while the government had taken registration closer to citizens through ward-level enrolment.
The President disclosed that the government launched a ward-level enrolment drive in February 2026, making free NIN registration available across all 8,809 wards in the country.
He added that more than 5,000 enrolment agents had been trained to improve access for persons with disabilities, the elderly and other vulnerable groups.
Tinubu said the administration’s identity reforms were reinforced by the enactment of the National Identity Management Commission Act 2026, which repealed the 2007 legislation and provided a stronger legal framework for the identity management ecosystem.
He said the new law strengthened safeguards for personal data, increased penalties for identity-related offences, expanded the mandatory use of the NIN across critical sectors and strengthened governance of the national identity ecosystem.
According to him, integrating the NIN into taxation, banking, healthcare, voter registration and land transactions would create a system based on “one person, one trusted identity” and facilitate seamless access to government services.
The President also highlighted the role of identity verification in financial inclusion, saying the NIN was increasingly serving as the foundation for Know-Your-Customer verification within the financial system.
He said NIN-linked verification had supported initiatives such as the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) student loan programme, through which more than 800,000 students had accessed educational financing.
On national security, Tinubu said strengthened identity verification and responsible information-sharing among government institutions were improving the country’s ability to tackle identity fraud, financial crimes and other security threats.
He cited collaboration among the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Immigration Service and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as examples of the benefits of interconnected government systems.
The President also said the NIN requirement for ECOWAS passports was strengthening Nigeria’s regional identity framework and supporting safer and more efficient movement across West Africa.
Tinubu further disclosed that the government was accelerating the development of a sovereign Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) as a critical trust layer within Nigeria’s Digital Public Infrastructure.
He said the infrastructure would strengthen the cryptographic foundations for secure digital signatures, trusted electronic documents, encrypted transactions and secure government communications.
The President said the government’s immediate objective was to achieve 95 per cent NIN coverage by December 2026 through expanded ward-level enrolment, mobile registration and continued deployment of licensed enrolment agents.
In her address, the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Engr. Abisoye Coker-Odusote, said the Commission had increased identity enrolment from less than 100 million to more than 140 million Nigerians and legal residents.
She attributed the expansion partly to the Ward-to-Ward Enrollment Project, which took NIMC officers to all 8,809 wards and deployed National Youth Service Corps members as ad-hoc enrolment officers in communities without enrolment centres.
Coker-Odusote said the Commission’s Self-Service Modification Platform had processed nearly two million record updates, reducing the time required for modifications from weeks to between 24 and 48 hours.
She added that NIMC had extended identity services to refugees, internally displaced persons, inmates, newborns and Nigerians in the diaspora, with enrolment access reaching nearly 1,000 locations across 38 countries.
According to her, the Commission had also deployed NINAuth, a consent-based authentication platform that gives citizens greater control over the use of their identity information.
She said NIMC had established a Security Operations Centre, maintained ISO 27001 certification and deployed artificial intelligence systems to identify duplicate and synthetic identities.
Coker-Odusote said the Commission was collaborating with the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre, Department of State Services and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to combat identity fraud networks.
She also announced that Nigerians would begin receiving physical National e-ID cards before the end of 2026.
According to her, the three-in-one biometric card is designed to support identity verification, access to government benefits and financial payments, including offline functionality for Nigerians in areas with limited connectivity.
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said operational agreements had been signed with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, NELFUND and the Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme to issue the cards to farmers and students as channels for benefits and stipends.
The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, in his address, said identity was at the intersection of economic growth, national security and social inclusion.
Tunji-Ojo said a modern state needed reliable knowledge of its population to deliver schools, healthcare, social protection and economic opportunities more effectively.
He described the NIMC Act 2026 as a landmark legislation that provided a forward-looking legal foundation for Nigeria’s digital economy and Digital Public Infrastructure.
The minister urged Nigerians who were yet to obtain NINs to enrol and advised those already registered to protect their identity credentials against fraud, theft and other forms of abuse.
He said government agencies, private enterprises, telecommunications companies and communities must work together to maintain an identity ecosystem that is secure, accessible and respectful of citizens’ privacy.