The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) have moved to deepen cooperation on biometric data harmonisation, voter registration and identity management, a step both agencies said could eventually allow citizens greater mobility in voting and improve the integrity of Nigeria’s voter register.
INEC chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, speaking when he received NIMC director-general Abisoye Coker-Odusote and her management team at INEC headquarters, framed the partnership as an infrastructure upgrade for democracy. “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,” Yakubu said.
Yakubu described a long-term vision in which the national register of voters could be drawn directly from a robust national citizenship register. “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,” he said, adding that the approach could also change the current logistics of voting. “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.”
Practical steps are already under way, Yakubu said, pointing to integration between INEC’s voter registration activities and NIMC enrolment. He told the delegation: “It is in furtherance of this collaboration that NIMC is deploying its officials to some of our registration centres during the ongoing nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR). The idea is to provide more Nigerians who are yet to enroll for the NIN the opportunity to do so.”
On piloting and scaling the joint approach, Yakubu said the agencies had tested the arrangement and planned to expand it. He said the pilot — conducted during recent CVR activities in Anambra in July — would be scaled nationwide, enabling citizens “to register as voters while simultaneously registering for the NIN.” Yakubu added that NIMC would provide details of the centres where its officials would be deployed and spell out the modalities for NIN registration at those locations.
