Nigeria’s identity agency is accelerating efforts to reposition the national digital identity system as a foundation for financial inclusion, social protection and economic development, moving beyond citizen enrolment to forge deeper partnerships with institutions that deliver public services.
The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has opened talks with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and the Bank of Industry (BOI) as part of a broader strategy to implement the newly enacted NIMC Act 2026, legislation expected to strengthen the role of digital identity across government and the economy.
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The engagements suggest the commission is seeking to embed the National Identification Number (NIN) more deeply into Nigeria’s financial system and social intervention programmes, an approach that could improve access to credit, welfare payments and public services while reducing identity fraud.
Leading the engagements, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, NIMC director-general and chief executive officer, met separately with Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, the minister of Women Affairs and Olasupo Olusi, BOI managing director, to discuss collaboration under the new law.
During the meeting with the Ministry of Women Affairs, discussions centred on expanding legal identity coverage for women, girls and vulnerable populations, groups that have historically faced barriers to accessing formal financial services and government programmes.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim said a secure digital identity system would strengthen financial inclusion, healthcare delivery, education, social protection and other family-focused interventions. She also pledged closer collaboration with the commission to ensure more Nigerians, particularly vulnerable groups, are captured in the national identity database.
The discussions point to a shift in how identity is increasingly viewed by policymakers, not merely as a security tool but as critical economic infrastructure that determines access to public and private sector services.
A similar message emerged from NIMC’s engagement with the Bank of Industry, where Olusi described the NIMC Act 2026 as potentially transformative for the financial sector.
According to him, stronger identity verification could improve credit assessment, reduce fraud, strengthen risk management and support secure digital transactions. He said the legislation appeared “almost as if it was enacted specifically for the finance industry.”
The development comes as Nigerian financial institutions continue to tighten customer verification requirements while expanding digital lending and electronic payment services, making reliable identity systems increasingly important.
For BOI, which finances small businesses and industrial projects, stronger digital identity infrastructure could simplify customer verification and widen access to formal financing for entrepreneurs who have previously struggled to prove their identities.
The commission said both institutions committed to working with NIMC to expand access to secure digital identities, improve financial inclusion and strengthen inter-agency collaboration.
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The outreach forms part of NIMC’s wider engagement with ministries, departments and agencies following the enactment of the NIMC Act 2026, which gives the commission a stronger legal framework to coordinate identity management nationwide.
The strategy signals that the next phase of Nigeria’s digital identity programme will be measured less by the number of enrolments alone and more by how effectively the identity system supports lending, social welfare, healthcare, education and other services that rely on trusted citizen data.
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