INEC, NIMC to link voter registration with NIN

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, have renewed their partnership to strengthen voter and identity registration across the country.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, gave the assurance on Wednesday when he received the NIMC Director-General, Engr. Abisoye Coker-Odusote, and her management team at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

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Yakubu said both agencies hold the largest biometric databases in Nigeria and expressed hope that in the future, the national register of voters could be drawn directly from the NIMC citizenship database.

He added that such a system would allow citizens to vote from anywhere in the country, instead of being tied to the polling units where they originally registered.

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The INEC chairman also disclosed that NIMC had deployed its officials to some of INEC’s Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) centres to enable Nigerians to register for the National Identification Number (NIN) while registering as voters.

According to him, a pilot of the initiative was carried out during the July CVR in Anambra State, and the programme will now be expanded nationwide.

Yakubu welcomed the collaboration, saying it would further strengthen Nigeria’s electoral process and make it more inclusive.

Also speaking to journalists on the sidelines, NIMC DG Coker-Odusote said the collaboration was in line with the commission’s mandate to harmonise all identity data across government agencies. She explained that the aim was to make NIMC the “single source of truth” for citizens’ identity, stressing that trust, transparency and accountability would guide the process.

She added that both commissions were working hand in hand to build a system that would make access to services, including voting, easier and more reliable for Nigerians.

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