The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and various technology firms have urged for the rapid digitization of government services, underpinned by strong cybersecurity and digital identity frameworks. This approach is considered vital for enhancing public service delivery, bolstering national security, and fostering economic growth.
This call was made during the ITGov Nigeria 2026 summit, an event organized by Tranter IT, a Nigerian technology services provider, in collaboration with ManageEngine, the enterprise IT management division of Zoho Corporation. The summit took place at the Abuja Continental Hotel.
NIMC's Vision for Digital Identity
Abisoye Coker-Odusote, the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of NIMC, emphasized at the summit that effective digital public infrastructure relies on a trusted and secure digital identity system. She warned that nations lacking reliable identity systems would continue to struggle with public service delivery, leaving financial institutions, businesses, and citizens vulnerable to fraud, inefficiency, and exclusion.
Coker-Odusote highlighted that the NIMC Act 2026 has redefined the commission, transforming it from a basic identity management agency into a strategic enabler of Nigeria’s digital economy. A key innovation of this Act is the establishment of NIMC as the certification authority for Nigeria’s national public infrastructure.
“Technically, we are now the home of digital trust,” she stated, explaining that this framework will support secure authentication, electronic signatures, and digital trust services across both public and private sectors. She added that this milestone would significantly upgrade Nigeria’s cybersecurity posture, mitigate online fraud, and boost confidence in the entire digital ecosystem.
The NIMC boss further elaborated that a secure digital identity ecosystem would improve governance by ensuring transparent service delivery, reducing identity fraud, lowering compliance costs, and enabling citizens to access public and private services through a single verifiable digital credential. She also linked digital identity to national security, noting its potential to strengthen intelligence gathering, support law enforcement investigations, and enhance Nigeria’s resilience against cybercrime, identity theft, and financial terrorism.
Coker-Odusote concluded by stating NIMC’s vision is to ensure every resident possesses a secure and reusable digital identity for seamless service access, envisioning “A Nigeria where public services are accessed digitally, securely and without delay.”
IT Firms Advocate Integrated Digital Platforms
Dr. Lare Ayoola, Executive Chairman of Tranter IT, speaking on the sidelines of the event, stressed the necessity for government agencies to adopt integrated digital platforms. These platforms should encompass identity management, cybersecurity, network management, and customer service to modernize public administration.
According to Dr. Ayoola, such technologies would enable ministries and agencies to automate processes, reduce paperwork, and significantly shorten service delivery timelines. He explained that services currently taking months to complete could be concluded within days once government processes become fully digital, stating, “Instead of three months, it would be reduced to one week because all the information will be collected online and the citizen does not have to queue up at different government offices, but can simply go online and achieve the same objective.”
He further emphasized that the increasing digitization of government services must be accompanied by stronger cybersecurity and data protection measures. Dr. Ayoola noted that digital transformation would improve the ease of doing business, reduce governance costs, increase government revenue through more efficient digital processes, and enable better planning via improved data collection and analysis.
Solomon Raj, Associate Director, Africa Sales and Channels at ManageEngine, reported that his company has observed increasing adoption of its enterprise IT management solutions by ministries and government agencies over the past three years. He noted, “We are making a very good change in their environment, making certain things paperless, making a lot of automations in their environment, and going digital as well.”
Raj identified Nigeria as a strategic market due to its large population, economic size, and digital transformation agenda. However, he pointed out limited technology awareness and the continued use of legacy systems as key obstacles to public sector digitization, urging greater efforts to modernize government IT infrastructure and deepen digital adoption across ministries and agencies.
