NIN enrollment: NIMC targets 85% registration before December 2025

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has revealed plans to register 85 per cent of Nigerians before December 2025 as regards the NIN enrollment program. It noted that the pursuit will be powered by a combination of improved infrastructure, expanded registration centres, and public sensitisation campaigns.

Speaking during a press briefing in Abuja, NIMC Director-General, Coker-Odusote, disclosed that the mission is attributed to President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, focusing on all-around development and digital governance. She highlighted that the ongoing Ward Enrollment Exercise, when completed, will allow the government to know the actual number of Nigerians, which will make it easy to plan effectively for the citizens.

“What we have done in this regard is that we will commence the Ward Enrollment Exercise to capture at least 95 per cent of Nigerians before December, year-end,” she added.

According to information on the NIMC portal, approximately 120 million Nigerians have been enrolled under the scheme as of April 30, 2025. With the 85 per cent year-end target, the commission needs to enrol 67 million more Nigerians, as the country’s population is currently estimated at over 220 million. 

However, the NIMC boss revealed that 100 million more Nigerians would be captured by December, and the Commission is working to meet the target.

Also Read: NIMC increases NIN Date of Birth modification fee by 75% to N28,750 and others by 31%.

Nigeria’s digital identity initiative falls under the World Bank’s Digital Identity for National Development (ID4D) program. The program was formulated to increase the number of legitimate NIN holders among the citizens. The initial funding phase of the project began in 2020. 

While the mandatory NIN enrollment has been launched since September 2015, the agency fell short of the 180 million enrollment target of June 2024 set by the World Bank. Having experienced various difficulties, such as sparse registration infrastructure and low public awareness, the deadline was extended to December 2026.

NIN enrollment: concerns regarding data security

While addressing the issue of public trust in the proper handling of data, Coker-Odusote explained the commission has taken several steps to ensure Nigerians’ data is in safe hands. In this regard, she mentioned that one of the things NIMC has done is to put people in control of their data, which is being achieved through the NIN Authentication. With the platform’s user consent management, individuals would have access to their data and choose when and how they would like to share the data for any service required.

Another move by the NIMC is to partner with security agencies that are making efforts to arrest perpetrators who create fake NIN websites. She noted that there is a partnership between NIMC and the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) to train enrollment staff on proper handling of data.

“We want to make sure that they all get certified by Data Protection, I think it’s also another way to ensure that internally they get certified and all of our frontend partners and verification partners are also getting certified by the Data Protection Commission; so this is for us to foster trust, to be able to ensure you know that the people handling your data are also certified experts,” she explained.

In addition, Coker-Odusote said the commission has strengthened its cybersecurity from the backend to ensure there’s no obstruction or data breach of people’s information.

In other plans, she revealed that the commission is working to ensure that all ministries, departments, and agencies work in a collaborative structure and also launch its “Public Key Infrastructure,” which builds trust, especially within the MDAs.

“We have been working very hard on integrating with all ministries, departments and agencies based on use cases that we’ve identified under their jurisdiction,” she noted.

For NIMC, it projects a situation where ministries, departments, and agencies will use a collective digital signing system and exchange documents within and across various parastatals. This, according to the NIMC DG, will bring about e-governance and an enabling system where the digital economy can thrive.