Nigeria’s new identity law turns NIMC into the country’s digital trust authority

For nearly two decades, Nigeria’s National Identity Number (NIN) has primarily served as a means of verifying identity for services such as opening bank accounts, SIM registration, and access to government programmes. The newly signed National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Act, 2026, exclusively obtained by TechCabal, fundamentally changes that. Through nine major reforms, the law expands  NIMC’s statutory responsibilities to include digital identity, Public Key Infrastructure, Digital P