NIMC Pledges Stronger Media Engagement Over New Identity Law
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NIMC Pledges Stronger Media Engagement Over New Identity Law
By Alabidun Shuaib AbdulRahman
The National Identity Management Commission, NIMC has pledged to sustain its engagement with the media to promote transparency, accurate information and public understanding of the country’s new identity management framework.
The commission said continuous collaboration with the media would be critical to ensuring that Nigerians understood the provisions of the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC Act 2026, as well as their rights and responsibilities under the new law.
The Director, SERVICOM, NIMC, Mrs Florence Oloruntade, who represented the Director-General of the commission, Engr Abisoye Coker-Odusote, stated this on Monday in Abuja at the commission’s seventh roundtable workshop with online media partners.
The workshop, organised in collaboration with the Association of Corporate Online Editors, ACOE was themed, “The New NIMC Act: Building Trust, Enabling Services, Transforming Nigeria.”
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Oloruntade described the relationship between NIMC and the online media as an important partnership, stressing that transparency must go beyond the enactment of the new legislation.
She said the media had a crucial role to play in the implementation of the Act by helping Nigerians understand the changes introduced by the law and how they would affect citizens.
She noted that effective public communication would be particularly important in addressing misconceptions surrounding the National Identification Number, data privacy and the use of identity information.
“Misinformation about the NIN, about data privacy, about mandatory use has cost us public trust in the past,” she said.
The NIMC director urged members of ACOE and other media practitioners to provide accurate and balanced reports on the new law and its implementation, noting that public understanding would be essential to achieving its objectives.
She added that the commission remained committed to open dialogue with ACOE and the wider media community as part of efforts to strengthen public confidence in Nigeria’s identity management system.
Oloruntade recalled that NIMC commenced extensive consultations in 2024, including roundtable discussions in Abuja and Lagos, where stakeholders raised concerns over the inclusion of vulnerable Nigerians, eligibility for NIN, data ownership and circumstances under which identity information could be disclosed.
She explained that the NIMC Act 2026, signed into law by President Bola Tinubu on June 26, repealed and replaced the 2007 legislation, providing a modern legal framework for identity management in Nigeria.
According to her, the new law strengthens data protection, provides clearer provisions on inclusion and eligibility, and expands NIMC’s responsibilities in areas including secure authentication, encryption, digital signatures and electronic trust services.
She added that the legislation also provides legal backing for greater interoperability among government databases and identity systems, with potential benefits for national security and citizens’ access to essential services.
Oloruntade said the task before NIMC and other stakeholders was to ensure that Nigerians did not merely know that a new identity law had been enacted but understood how its provisions affected them.
“The ultimate responsibility is now to ensure that Nigerians not only know that a new identity law exists but also understand how it affects them,” the Director-General said.
