The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has integrated 63 biometric capturing agents into its enrolment system; a move it claims will expand access to identity registration across Nigeria. The commission also emphasised that its national identity database remains securely hosted within the country, countering concerns about foreign storage or external control.

According to NIMC, the addition of these agents is part of ongoing efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s identity infrastructure and ensure wider coverage for citizens and legal residents.

Director of NIMC’s Strategic Programme Office, Dr Alvan Ikoku, disclosed this during a virtual session with the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Alumni Network, organised by the Media Foundation for West Africa.

Ikoku, who used the interaction to discuss key provisions and developments under the amended Act, said that while harmonisation with other government parastatals and agencies remains gradual, “There has been huge success around integration of some disparate data. Harmonisation handshake has been slow because some of these entities still lack what to offer to ensure seamless harmonisation, but we are good on integration. I can say about 95 per cent of integration has been achieved.”

He disclosed that while it is “One thing is to be ready to integrate with agencies, another issue is the maturity of some of these organisations and agencies. NIMC has an API set, and if they are ready, in less than 72 hours, integration can happen, but harmonisation can be delayed due to some challenges.”

According to him, there has been integration with the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Nigerian Education Loan Fund, National Health Insurance Authority, among others.

On local hosting of data, the NIMC chief said the national identity database is hosted entirely in Nigeria and managed by its own employees.

He said locally hosted databases not only guarantee data sovereignty but also enhance security, transparency, and compliance with national regulations governing personal information.

“It is being managed by Nigerians, not Nigerian vendors, by NIMC employees,” Ikoku said. He maintained that NIMC has never hosted its identity data outside the country, does not use cloud hosting for its core database, and has disaster recovery systems to keep services running when systems fail.

Ikoku said NIMC maintains its core database internally and subjects employees, particularly those responsible for database management, to ongoing scrutiny by security agencies. He added that staff could face legal consequences for misconduct.

On the 2026 NIMC Act, Ikoku informed that it requires compliance with the Nigeria Data Protection Act and sets conditions for disclosing registered persons’ information. These include consent, legal obligations, public-interest functions, criminal investigations and court proceedings.

He said NIMC’s role is to authenticate identities, not retain the reasons behind verification requests made by other organisations.

“The commission is supposed to coordinate authentication and verification, but the authentication that the commission needs to make may be coming from another entity,” Ikoku said. “It is not the commission’s business to retain the reason for that request or for that authentication. The commission will not do that. Neither will its agents or assignees do that in any way.”

According to him, users could manage and withdraw consent through NIMC’s authentication application, subject to legal exceptions.

He disclosed that NIMC has enrolled 142 million Nigerians into the database, but some 100 million have been issued with the National Identification Numbers (NIN). He, however, stressed that President Bola Tinubu has directed the Commission to push NIN coverage to 95 per cent of the population by December 2026, “And this, we are making all efforts to achieve on or before the end of the year.”