The Ministry of Defence has announced a partnership with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to implement the NIMC Act 2026, using integrated digital identity systems to strengthen national security and improve identity verification.
A statement on Sunday by the Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister of Defence, Leah-Katung Babatunde, said the Minister of Defence, Gen. Christopher Gwabin Musa (Rtd.), disclosed the development while receiving the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of NIMC, Dr. Abisoye Coker-Odusote, and her management team at the Ship House in Abuja.
Musa said effective collaboration among government agencies is essential to tackling Nigeria’s evolving security threats, stressing that reliable data is critical to intelligence gathering and security operations.
“For us in the security sector, data is critical—to know who we are dealing with, who we are expecting, and even those within us, because sometimes the enemy is within. It is therefore vital for us to be able to identify everyone accurately,” he said.
The minister pledged the ministry’s full support for government institutions whose mandates align with efforts to enhance national security.
Earlier, Coker-Odusote said the visit centred on the implementation of the NIMC Act 2026 and its role in strengthening Nigeria’s security architecture through a trusted digital identity system.
Both parties agreed on the need for a secure, interoperable digital identity ecosystem to improve identity verification, support defence operations and enable seamless intelligence sharing across government agencies.
