According to Punch, President Bola Tinubu has directed the National Identity Management Commission to push national identification enrolment to 95 per cent of the population by December 2026. The administration says enrolment has risen to roughly 142 million people and that the next phase will focus on closing remaining gaps through ward-level registration, mobile teams and licensed agents.
The directive was presented during the 2026 National Identity Day programme in Abuja. The government linked broader identity coverage to easier access to public and digital services, while also stressing the need to protect privacy and citizens’ rights.
The Nation separately reported that the government sees the digital identity system as part of Nigeria’s wider digital-economy infrastructure, describing it as a way to strengthen access and verification. Independent Nigeria likewise reported the government’s view that expanding digital identity is strengthening Nigeria’s position in Africa’s digital economy.
Those accounts broadly corroborate the policy direction, although the exact 95 per cent timetable and enrolment figure are principally drawn from the presidential remarks reported by Punch. The Nation described the wider objective as building “digital identity infrastructure”, while Independent Nigeria referred to the system’s role in the “digital economy”.
Echotitbits take: The immediate issue to watch is whether the enrolment target translates into accessible registration points and reliable identity verification rather than simply a higher database count. Privacy safeguards, duplicate records and practical access for underserved communities will be important measures of implementation.
Source: Arise – https://www.arise.tv/fg-sets-december-deadline-to-achieve-95-nin-coverage-nationwide/, 2026-09-17 Punch
Photo Credit: