IDEMIA stated that the updates will ensure that each citizen's identity in the civil database is unique. The system would store 250 million records.

IDEMIA Smart Identity, a French multinational, is preparing to upgrade Nigeria's national biometric identity system,

The biometrics solutions company has renewed its partnership with Nigeria's National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to carry out the upgrades, which will be supported by the World Bank's ID4D programme.

IDEMIA stated that the updates will ensure that each citizen's identity in the civil database is unique. The system would store 250 million records.

According to IDEMIA, renewing the long-standing relationship and upgrading NIMC's biometric system will result in it being one of the world's most advanced biometric systems.

It stated that the biometric matching system will be capable of processing 1 million 1:1 and 1:N identification verification searches each day.

1:1 authentication is typically used for ordinary authentication tasks like unlocking a smartphone or logging onto a computer, whereas 1:N authentication is commonly used in applications like border control, criminal identification, and access control systems.

According to IDEMIA, the first system was built to support 100 million records but has now reached approximately 90 million records. As a result, the upgrade is necessary to cover the entire Nigerian population. According to data from the World Bank, Nigeria’s population in 2022 was 218 million.

Furthermore, IDEMIA stated that the system upgrade will enable NIMC to comply with OSIA, an open standard set of interfaces (APIs), which facilitates interaction between all components of the identity management ecosystem.

Abisoye Coker-Odusote, CEO, NIMC and chairman of the OSIA Advisory Committee, said: “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.”