Nigeria extends national digital ID into cooperative sector with Seamfix

Nigeria is extending its national digital identity ecosystem into the country’s cooperative sector with a new biometric registry that will link millions of cooperative members to the National Identification Number (NIN). Digital identity provider Seamfix has been selected as the technical partner to develop the platform.

Seamfix has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria to develop and deploy the National Cooperative Smart Registry (NCSR).

According to Seamfix, the registry will digitize identity management for Nigeria’s estimated 370,000 registered cooperative societies, replacing manual processes that have long been vulnerable to duplication, fraud and inefficient service delivery.

The registry will assign Cooperative Verification Numbers (CVNs) and Cooperative Member Identification Numbers (CoopIDs), both linked to the National Identification Number (NIN), extending Nigeria’s foundational identity infrastructure into another major economic sector. The NIN is Nigeria’s foundational identity system with sector-specific identity programs increasingly being built on top of it.

The partners say the registry is intended to address longstanding challenges including verifying  cooperative members and improving access to government support schemes.

Agriculture and Food Security Minister of State, Dr. Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, said the initiative would help modernize the cooperative sector and establish a trusted national framework for verified cooperative information.

Per the agreement, the federal government will ensure coordination of the process, while the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria will undertake a sensitization and awareness campaign on the importance of the new ID.

Seamfix COO Frank Atube said the platform would replace fragmented manual identity records and help ensure government support reaches verified beneficiaries.

The registry adds to a growing list of other sectoral digital IDs in Nigeria, including student IDs that are being integrated with the national ID system with the hope of improving education planning and school registration.

The expansion of sector-specific identity systems coincides with reforms to Nigeria’s digital identity framework, including recent legislative changes to support the country’s digital transformation objectives.

Nigeria’s ID authority, the NIMC, says the regulatory changes are part of efforts geared towards streamlining identity management and facilitating access by Nigerians to public and private sector services.  As of July, NIN issuance had surpassed 137 million, and the NIMC has been holding discussions with different public entities to support the implementation of the new legislation.

Article Topics

digital identity  |  identity management  |  national ID  |  National Identity Number (NIN)  |  Nigeria  |  Seamfix