Photo File: INEC Logo

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has entered into a strategic partnership with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to harmonise identity and voter registration processes across Nigeria.

The initiative, according to INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, is expected to transform the country’s electoral system by leveraging the two agencies’ extensive biometric databases. While INEC maintains the voter register, NIMC holds the country’s most comprehensive citizenship identity data through the National Identification Number (NIN).

Yakubu spoke in Abuja on Wednesday when the NIMC Director-General/CEO, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, led her management team to the INEC headquarters. The development was also disclosed in a statement on NIMC’s official X handle.

At a joint press conference, both agencies announced plans to integrate NIMC’s NIN database into INEC’s Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercises. The move, they said, would ensure that every eligible voter is uniquely identified, thereby strengthening the credibility of Nigeria’s elections.

“Integrating NIMC’s NIN database into future CVR exercises will help ensure that every eligible voter is uniquely and verifiably identified,” Coker-Odusote said, describing the alliance as a “strategic partnership for national progress.”

She assured that NIMC would provide INEC with secure, up-to-date, and verifiable identity data for voter verification, while also safeguarding data privacy in line with national laws and global best practices.

Yakubu, on his part, praised the collaboration as timely, noting that it aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda for institutional reforms. He stressed that credible voter identity is central to free and fair elections, adding that the joint effort would close loopholes such as multiple registrations and identity fraud.

Both agencies affirmed their commitment to sustaining the partnership ahead of future electoral cycles.