DG/CEO, NIMC, Engr. Abisoye Coker-Odusote

The Director General/CEO of the National Identity Management Commission NIMC, Engr.  Abisoye Coker-Odusote has said the Commission has achieved a 49 per cent growth in National Identity Number NIN enrolment rate for Nigerian citizens and legal residents over the last three years.

Speaking at a two –day Roundtable with Online Publishers in Lagos, Thursday with the theme: “Building Trust in Digital Identity: Strengthening Media Partnerships for a secure inclusive Ecosystem”, the DG/CEO disclosed that when the Commission began NIN enrolment in January, 2022, the total figures stood at 72.7million, which has grown phenomenally to 122million as at July 2025 and still counting.

Represented by the Director, IT/IDD, Lanre Yousuf, the DG, who pledged that the Commission under her watch is committed to building a Unified Identity System in the country, further disclosed that the rate of extortion and fraud associated with the NIN enrolment processes has reduced by over 40per cent.

“Since January 2022, when NIN enrolment stood at 72.7 million, we have recorded a phenomenal increase. As of July 2025, enrolment stands at over 122 million and counting. This represents a 49% increase in enrolment rate, which is a clear testament to the progress we have made in just over three years.

“Monthly, millions of Nigerians are now being enrolled and issued a verifiable means of identification, unlocking access to critical services in education, agriculture, healthcare, social protection, and beyond.

“The identity ecosystem in Nigeria was once fragmented, revenue-gulping, and exclusionary.

Today, that story is changing. Through collaboration with our stakeholders, we are building a unified, secure, and people-centered ID system—one that is becoming the cornerstone of national planning, financial inclusion, economic empowerment, and digital governance.

“Since my assumption of office as DG/CEO of NIMC, we have been proactive, transparent, and inclusive in our engagement with all stakeholders across government institutions, the private sector, the media, NGOs, CSOs, women’s forums, disability clusters, and local communities.

“This deliberate stakeholder-focused strategy has supported our core objective: to reposition the National Identity Management System to make it robust, inclusive and sustainable such that no one is left behind and the issued IDs guarantee their access to services and government interventions”, she said.

According to her, this exponential growth in the NIN enrolment rate is attributable to certain critical reforms undertaken by the management under her watch, noting that the management had in the last two years focused its efforts on addressing the deep-rooted issues that once plagued the identity enrolment process in the country, including extortion and corruption through the enforcement of a transparent fee structure as well as addressing infrastructure- related challenges.

Another contributory factor to the increasing NIN enrolment rate, she further noted was the management’s strategic partnerships and synergy with critical and relevant stakeholders including the media, Ministries, Departments and Agencies MDAs, among several others.

She said: “NIMC’s strategic collaborations with many government organisations have significantly enhanced service delivery across critical sectors. Key partners include the National Health Insurance Scheme NHIS, Federal Inland Revenue Service FIRS, Nigeria Immigration Service, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board JAMB, Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, Federal Road Safety Corps FRSC, Nigerian Communications Commission NCC, and the National Correctional Service NCoS.

“These collaborations support identity verification for inmates, staff, and service processes within the correctional system. Recent partnerships also extend to the National Social Insurance Trust Fund NSITF, CreditCorp, and the National Pension Commission PENCOM, which has integrated its Enhanced Contributor Registration System ECRS with the NIMC database to improve data accuracy and reduce pension-related fraud. Collectively, these collaborations have streamlined verification processes, enhanced access to essential services, and strengthened public confidence in identity-based systems.”

Meanwhile, Coordinator, Project Implementation Unit PIU, Nigeria Digital Identity For Development ID4D Project, Mrs. Tito Ejenavi, commended the NIMC management for the various reforms introduced in the last two years to ensure that every Nigerian citizen and legal residents including displaced and persons with disability as well as women and children across the six geopolitical zones are captured in the enrolment exercise.

The Nigeria Digital ID4D Project, a Nigerian collaborative effort funded by the World Bank, the European Investment Bank, and the French Development Agency, has a singular objective: to increase the number of persons with a National Identity Number NIN through a robust and inclusive foundational identity system which enables and facilitates their access to services.

Mrs. Ejenavi, who was represented by the Project Accountant, Bamidele Akinola, noted that the ID4D Project is proud to support this bridge-building initiative, especially because it involves strengthening our engagement with a critical sector of our society: the media, particularly publishers of online newspapers.

According to her, since the project became effective in 2021, the Nigeria Digital ID4D Project, particularly through the Project Implementation Unit PIU, has worked relentlessly to support NIMC in expanding access, promoting inclusion, and implementing people-centred reforms. Our mission is deeply rooted in the principle of inclusion.

“Together, we have made significant progress. We have developed and validated critical policies—including the National Inclusion Strategy and the Disability Enrolment Policy. We have supported the NIMC to train and certify over 7,167 Front-End Enrolment Partners and agents to enhance service delivery across rural and underserved communities.

“We are working relentlessly to upgrade the Automated Biometric Identification System ABIS, improve the billing system, and deploy a geospatial enrolment index to ensure coverage equity. We have also mapped out strategic plans to revamp the Data Recovery Centre DRC in Niger State and introduced the Modular Open System Integration platform MOSIP.

“We will also be supporting the NIMC in the deployment of the NIMS 2.0—the next-generation national identity management system in the drive to the Nationwide NIMC Ecosystem NIN Enrolment exercise. Importantly, we have not just invested in systems—we have invested in people. From change management workshops to policy consultations, and from grievance redress training to capacity-building conferences, we have equipped our staff with the tools to serve Nigerians better”, Mrs. Ejenavi said.