ABUJA, NIGERIA — Nigeria’s electoral body and its national identity management agency are working together to create a unified database of all citizens. The move is aimed at improving the efficiency and credibility of future elections.
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has called on the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to establish a single, comprehensive database for citizenship identification. Once this is in place, the national voter register could be directly drawn from the new database, a system used in many countries.
The announcement came after a meeting between the heads of the two agencies. As part of the new collaboration, NIMC officials will be deployed to INEC’s voter registration centres across the country to offer citizens the chance to obtain their National Identification Number (NIN) at the same time they register to vote.
According to a statement from INEC, the two agencies hold the largest biometric databases in the country. The long-term goal is for the NIMC database to become the “single source of truth” for all Nigerian citizens. This would not only streamline voter registration but could also eventually allow citizens to vote from any location in the country, rather than being restricted to where they initially registered.
A pilot programme for the joint registration exercise was carried out in Anambra State and will now be expanded nationwide. Dr. Bisoye Coker-Odusote, the Director-General of NIMC, stated that the partnership is a key step towards building a “trusted system that serves Nigerians, ensures inclusivity, and supports credible elections.”
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