National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has enrolled more than 206,000 internally displaced persons and refugees as well as over 32,000 inmates into the national database.
Director-General Engr. Abisoye Coker-Odusote disclosed the figures while presenting at the ID4Africa 2026 conference, where she outlined the commission’s drive to hit 180 million enrolments by the end of the year.
According to her, the move is aimed at ensuring vulnerable and underserved groups are not excluded from access to national identity services and government programmes.
“Over 206,000 refugees and internally displaced persons, as well as over 32,000 inmates, have been enrolled into the national identity database to ensure that no one is left behind,” she said.
Coker-Odusote explained that Nigeria’s identity management system has evolved from fragmented manual records into a more integrated digital framework capable of supporting governance, financial inclusion, national security and public service delivery.
She traced the country’s identity management journey to 1977 but noted that the establishment of NIMC through the 2007 Act provided the legal structure for a centralised national database.
The NIMC boss said the commission had introduced several digital reforms between 2007 and 2023, including the NIN Mobile App, the Person Identification Verification Service and the nationwide NIN-SIM linkage policy.
According to her, the SIM linkage exercise became one of the biggest drivers of digital identity adoption in Nigeria’s telecom sector.
“The NIN-SIM linkage policy significantly accelerated enrollment growth and strengthened identity verification nationwide,” she stated.
She further disclosed that Nigeria recorded 127 million unique identity records as of December 2025, while the commission currently handles about 3.3 million verification requests daily.
Coker-Odusote added that NIMC had deployed more than 800 mobile enrolment devices nationwide to deepen access in rural and underserved communities.
She said the commission also cleared about 2.5 million manually delayed records, helping to improve the integrity and reliability of the national database.
According to her, the country is now averaging about five million new enrolments monthly as integration of the National Identification Number with key institutions and government programmes continues to expand.
