By Anwar Usman
The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said on Friday that Nigeria’s integrated identity management system led to the arrest of seven suspected Boko Haram and ISWAP commanders returning from the 2026 Hajj pilgrimage.
The minister made this known at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, shortly after President Bola Tinubu signed the National Identity Management Commission Act 2026 into law, as contained in a statement signed by the President’s aide, Bayo Onanuga.
According to him, the suspects were arrested last Thursday at the Katsina airport after returning from Saudi Arabia and were subsequently handed over to the Department of State Services.
He said the arrests were successful as a result of integrating the National Identity Management Commission database with the Nigeria Immigration Service database and connecting it to Interpol.
The statement in part reads, ”I know, sometime ago, the Senate President was alarmed by how some terrorists went on pilgrimage, wondering how they crossed our borders. We inherited a fractured system.
”But I’m happy to tell you that even last week, Thursday, seven of the known commanders of Boko Haram and ISWAP at the point of coming back from Mecca were arrested in Katsina at the airport and were handed over to the DSS.
”This is only possible because NIMC’s ID is already connected with the immigration database, and it’s already speaking to even the Interpol 24/7, and we have been able to automate this,” the minister said.
According to the minister, the newly signed NIMC Act would further strengthen Nigeria’s security architecture by improving the harmonisation of identity databases and strengthening inter-agency collaboration.
He further revealed that the law will enhance the integrity of the National Identity Number system while boosting the country’s capacity to combat identity theft, terrorism, financial crimes and other security threats.
He said that before Tinubu’s government, identity management systems were fragmented, noting that services such as passport issuance and driver’s licence processing were disconnected from the national identity database.
President Tinubu signed the NIMC Act 2026 on Friday. In attendance were the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, and other senior government officials.