The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) have deepened their collaboration on data harmonisation for citizens registration and identity management.

The chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, stated this when he received the NIMC director-general, Abisoye Coker-Odusote and her management team at INEC headquarters on Wednesday in Abuja.

Mr Yakubu said that the move between the two sister agencies holding the largest biometric databases of Nigerians could, in future, enable citizens to vote from any location in the country.

He explained that while INEC holds the database of citizens for the purpose of elections, NIMC has the record of citizens generally.

“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.

“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,’’ he said.

Mr Yakubu said that the NIMC was collaborating with INEC to enable citizens to register for voter cards and the National Identification Number (NIN) simultaneously, during the ongoing nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).

“It is in furtherance of this collaboration that NIMC is deploying its officials to some of our registration centres during the ongoing nationwide CVR.

“The idea is to provide more Nigerians who are yet to enrol for the NIN the opportunity to do so.

“Working with NIMC, we carried out a pilot during the recent CVR in Anambra from July 8 to July 202025.

“ 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 said.

Earlier in her remarks, Abisoye Coker-Odusote said that the collaboration was part of the NIMC mandate to harmonise data across all ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs).

Ms Coker-Odusote explained that the collaboration would create a trust-based system that would benefit Nigerians across sectors, particularly in voting and ensure transparency, accountability and fairness.

This, according to her, is in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, who is keen about promoting credible elections in Nigeria through a reliable identity system.

“The goal set out in front of us is very key because we must ensure that we provide systems that are trusted by the public.

“Ensuring that we do what is required to satisfy Nigerians and make sure that our mandate, which is in line with the will of the people, is achieved.

“On this note, one of the key steps in us advancing this course is for us to start off with INEC on their voter registration exercise, to ensure that we are available during this process.

“This is to be able to provide access to Nigerians at the community level to be able to enrol and register for the NIN in collaboration with the INEC,’’ Ms Coker-Odusote said

Fielding questions from the media on when Nigerians would have access to one Identity Card from NIMC for different purposes, she said it was a work in progress, which would be achieved.

(NAN)