IDEMIA and NIMC Upgrade Nigeria’s Biometric System to World-Leading Status

On February 28, 2024, IDEMIA Smart Identity and NIMC agreed to renew their long-standing collaboration and upgrade NIMC’s biometric system to become the most advanced biometric system in the world, comparable only with Aadhaar in India. The powerful biometric matching systemwill be able to handle 1 million 1:1 and 1:N identity verification searches per day.

The initial system was designed to support 100 million records but has already reached around 90 million records and requires this extension to address the whole Nigerian population. In context, NIMC is already positioned to achieve the sustainable development goals target set for 2030 by the United Nations, which calls for a legal identity for all by the year 2030.*

In addition, the system upgrade is going to allow NIMC to be compliant with OSIA, an open standard set of interfaces (APIs) that enables seamless connectivity between all components of the identity management ecosystem.

We are very proud to continue our long-standing collaboration with NIMC for the greater good of Nigeria’s growing population. The new powerful system is future-proof and will ensure that all Nigerians have access to a secured, trusted identity, enabling them to exercise their rights and responsibilities as a citizen. Moreover, this contract, in the most populous country in Africa, demonstrates IDEMIA’s capability to deploy its technologies on a very large scale.

Olivier Charlanes, Senior Vice President of Middle East and Africa, IDEMIA Smart Identity

Taking this next step in the enhancement of our system with IDEMIA Smart Identity was a natural choice for us. We wanted to ensure that we deliver the best-in-class solution to our fellow Nigerians, and the pure power of the biometric matching we will receive ensures that the solution is future-proof for our growing population.

Engr. Abisoye Coker-Odusote, CEO, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and Chairman, OSIA Advisory Committee