The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, are partnering to integrate voter registration with national identity enrolment.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, gave the indication that the move is expected to simplify citizens’ participation and strengthen the country’s electoral process.
Yakubu spoke in Abuja on Wednesday when he received the Director-General of NIMC, Engr. Abisoye Coker-Odusote, and her management team at the Commission’s headquarters.
The INEC Chairman said the partnership would allow Nigerians to register as voters while simultaneously enrolling for their National Identification Number, NIN, at Continuous Voter Registration, CVR, centres nationwide.
He added that this joint exercise had already been piloted successfully during the July 8–20, 2025, voter registration in Anambra State and would now be expanded nationwide.
“As is well known, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) holds the database of citizens for the purpose of elections while NIMC has the record of citizens generally. Together, our two agencies hold the largest biometric databases of citizens in Nigeria.
“Since the ultimate goal is to enroll every citizen with NIMC, we look forward to the day when your database will serve as the single source of truth for citizenship identification in Nigeria. When the time comes, the national register of voters may simply draw from the citizenship register as is the case in many jurisdictions around the world.
“This may also enable citizens to vote in future elections from their places of choice anywhere in the country rather than the places they register as voters as is the case at present. To achieve this long-term goal, we will continue to deepen our collaboration with NIMC,” he said.
The INEC boss noted that the collaboration aligns with INEC’s broader commitment to work with national institutions to enhance the credibility and efficiency of elections.
Also speaking, the Director-General of NIMC, Coker-Odusote, pledged her agency’s full support for the partnership, assuring that the collaboration is a decisive step towards building a unified identity database that will boost governance, ensure accountability, and guarantee inclusivity.
“Our focus is integration, organization, and trust. Working hand in hand with INEC, we are creating a system Nigerians can rely on, not just for elections, but for access to essential services nationwide,” she said.
