Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that officials of National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) will soon be stationed at continuous voter registration (CVR) centres to streamline database collection and make registration more convenient for citizens.
Gatekeepers News reports that Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, revealed this on Wednesday during a visit by NIMC management team to the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
Yakubu explained that both agencies maintain the country’s largest biometric databases and closer collaboration will strengthen national identification systems.
He said, “Since the ultimate goal is to enrol 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.”
The INEC chairman added that in the future, integration between both systems could reshape voting processes. He said, “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.”
According to the INEC chairman, the partnership has already begun with a pilot exercise.
Yakubu said, The idea is to provide more Nigerians who are yet to enrol for the National Identification Number (NIN) the opportunity to do so. Working with NIMC, we carried out a pilot during the recent CVR in Anambra state from 8th to 20th July 2025.”
“We are now set to scale it up nationwide. Citizens will therefore have the opportunity to register as voters while simultaneously registering for the NIN. In due course, NIMC will provide details of the locations of our CVR centres where it will deploy its officials and also provide the modalities for the NIN registration.”
He noted that the collaboration is consistent with INEC’s strategy to partner with relevant national institutions to enhance electoral processes.
The INEC chairman added, “We welcome this partnership with NIMC which is in keeping with our commitment to synergise with every national institution to strengthen electoral activities in Nigeria.”
