Nigeria’s electoral and identity management agencies are moving closer to a unified system that could transform how citizens register and vote.
On Wednesday, INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and NIMC Director-General Abisoye Coker-Odusote met in Abuja to deepen cooperation on biometric data harmonisation. Together, the two institutions manage the country’s most comprehensive citizen databases.
Yakubu said the long-term vision is to allow the national voters’ register to draw directly from NIMC’s citizenship database, similar to global best practices. Such an integration, he explained, could eventually enable Nigerians to vote from anywhere in the country, rather than only where they initially registered.
Already, the partnership is taking shape. NIMC has begun deploying officials to INEC’s Continuous Voter Registration centres, offering Nigerians the chance to obtain their NIN and register as voters in a single process. A pilot in Anambra State in July 2025 has paved the way for nationwide rollout.
Coker-Odusote stressed that the collaboration would not only streamline processes but also strengthen public trust in Nigeria’s identity and electoral systems. She said the effort was part of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, which prioritises credible elections backed by reliable data.
Fielding questions from journalists, she said the much-anticipated single multipurpose identity card was a “work in progress,” adding that harmonisation across government agencies was central to achieving it.
Analysts note that if successfully implemented, the INEC–NIMC collaboration could resolve long-standing challenges of multiple registrations, ghost voters, and limited voter mobility, while enhancing transparency in both elections and service delivery.
