The National Identity Management Commission has dismissed claims suggesting that Nigeria does not have a functional National Identity Database, describing the assertion as misleading and inconsistent with the current state of the country’s identity management system.
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NIMC’s reaction followed comments by the Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Musa (retd.), who had said that weaknesses in Nigeria’s national database system were undermining efforts to combat insecurity, kidnapping and other crimes.
In a statement signed by its Head of Corporate Communications Unit, Kayode Adegoke, the Commission said the National Identity Database is fully operational, secure and actively supporting identity verification, authentication and service delivery across the country.
According to NIMC, the database was established under the NIMC Act No. 23 of 2007 and currently contains the records of more than 130 million Nigerians, each assigned a unique National Identification Number.
The Commission said it is statutorily empowered to establish, own, operate, maintain and manage the National Identity Database.
“NIMC is statutorily mandated to establish, own, operate, maintain, and manage the National Identity Database,” the statement said.
“This centralised, biometric-based database is fully functional, secure, and actively supporting identity verification, authentication, and service delivery across Nigeria.”
NIMC added that the storage capacity of the database has been expanded from 100 million to 250 million records to support broader national coverage and future enrolment growth.
The Commission said its real-time Verification and Authentication Services enable seamless identity confirmation for government institutions, financial service providers and other partner organisations.
It also cited the launch of NINAuth, a digital identity authentication platform designed to support secure biometric and demographic verification against the central database.
According to NIMC, the National Identity Database is currently being used by security agencies, law enforcement bodies and various Ministries, Departments and Agencies for identity verification, background checks and improved operational efficiency.
The agency said the database also supports the harmonisation of existing government databases and plays a key role in fraud prevention, public service delivery and national security operations.
“Several security agencies are utilising the National Identification Number through the National Identity Database to tackle security challenges and eliminate any threat to national security,” the Commission stated.
NIMC reiterated its commitment to data security, privacy protection and continuous improvement in line with global best practices, describing the National Identity Database as a major component of Nigeria’s digital public infrastructure.
The clarification came after the Defence Minister, speaking on Saturday at the Nigerian People’s Strategic Conference and Defence Exhibition 2026 in Abuja, said the absence of a comprehensive and integrated national database had made it difficult for security agencies to identify, track and apprehend criminals.
Musa said modern criminal and terrorist networks had become more sophisticated and often exploited gaps in identity management and information sharing to evade detection.
“We are struggling because we do not have a proper database. Without accurate information and timely intelligence, it becomes difficult to identify, track and apprehend criminal elements operating within our communities,” he said.
He added that kidnappers, bandits and other criminal groups take advantage of weaknesses in Nigeria’s data infrastructure, making security operations more difficult.
The debate comes amid growing public concern over the usefulness of the national identity database and the mandatory linkage of mobile phone numbers with NIN, especially in the face of rising kidnapping cases across the country.
As of the time of filing this report, the latest NIN enrolment data published on the NIMC website was for October 2025, showing that 123.9 million NINs had been issued at the time.
Although NIMC now says the database contains records of over 130 million Nigerians, the October 2025 data showed that Lagos State had the highest cumulative enrolment figure with over 13.1 million registrations.
Kano State ranked second with 11.5 million enrolments.
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