FG Links 15.6 Million Nigerians to National Social Register Through NIN

The Federal Government has linked the National Identification Numbers (NINs) of 15.65 million Nigerians to the National Social Register as part of efforts to improve the identification of poor and vulnerable households and strengthen the delivery of social assistance.

The National Social Safety-Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO) disclosed this in an update published on Wednesday, stating that more than 13.3 million unique household records had been updated across 771 local government areas in 37 states as of October 2026.

According to the office, the exercise is designed to improve data quality, reduce duplicate records and ensure that government interventions reach eligible beneficiaries more accurately.

Figures released by NASSCO showed that the National Social Register contained 21,114,531 households and 83,162,654 individuals as of October.

Of the registered households, 13,330,387 had been updated, representing 63.13 per cent of the total. This leaves approximately 7.78 million households yet to be covered by the reported update.

The data also indicated that 11,347,989 households had at least one member whose NIN was integrated into the register, representing about 53.74 per cent of all registered households.

The 15.65 million individuals whose identification numbers had been integrated accounted for approximately 18.82 per cent of the total number of people listed in the register.

NASSCO said the exercise was being implemented in collaboration with state-level partners to strengthen the reliability of beneficiary information and improve accountability in social protection programmes.

The updated figures come amid the Federal Government’s ongoing cash transfer initiative for poor and vulnerable households. According to the World Bank’s latest Nigeria Development Update, the government had disbursed ₦658.9 billion in direct cash transfers to 10.46 million households as of September 2026.I

The World Bank has called for wider programme coverage, more adequate payments and greater consistency in delivering assistance to beneficiaries.

A breakdown of the household update exercise showed considerable differences across states. Ebonyi recorded the highest coverage at 88.08 per cent, followed by Enugu at 86.62 per cent and Kano at 86.18 per cent.

Other states with relatively high coverage included Kogi at 80.61 per cent, Ekiti at 80.25 per cent, Zamfara at 78.74 per cent and Bauchi at 78.16 per cent.

Delta recorded the lowest coverage at 25.31 per cent, followed by Lagos at 35.36 per cent and Borno at 38.18 per cent. Oyo and Sokoto recorded 41.28 per cent and 41.61 per cent, respectively.

The differences highlight the uneven pace of household record updates across the country and the need for continued collaboration between federal and state authorities.

The integration of NINs is expected to make beneficiary verification more reliable, particularly by helping authorities identify duplicate or inaccurate records. However, updating a household record does not necessarily mean that every member of that household has a verified NIN.

NASSCO reaffirmed its commitment to building a more inclusive and transparent social protection system, with improved identification data intended to support more effective targeting and delivery of assistance to vulnerable Nigerians.