ABUJA, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The Federal Government has revived Nigeria’s digital postcode project, more than two decades after it was first conceived, and has begun integrating it with the National Identification Number (NIN) to strengthen digital identity, improve service delivery and enhance address verification across the country.
The initiative follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) in Abuja on Friday.
The agreement, signed by NIMC Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, and the Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer of NIPOST, Tola Odeyemi, formally integrates NIPOST into NIMC’s digital identity ecosystem.
The partnership is expected to broaden access to identity services, improve identity verification and support the Federal Government’s digital transformation agenda through a secure, inclusive and interoperable digital identity system.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Coker-Odusote disclosed that both agencies had already started integrating postcode retrieval into the NIN platform, allowing Nigerians to verify their addresses and retrieve digital postcodes through a single platform.
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She said, “Our teams have collaborated to integrate postcode retrieval into the NIN platform, so that Nigerians will soon be able to confirm their address and retrieve their postcode through one trusted platform. This is designed to make access faster and more convenient for all Nigerians.”
According to her, while the National Identification Number confirms an individual’s identity, the National Postcode System establishes where that individual can be reliably reached.
“Together, these two national assets create a powerful foundation for inclusive governance and digital transformation,” she said.
Coker-Odusote explained that integrating the national identity database with the country’s postcode infrastructure would improve access to government services, financial services, healthcare, education, emergency response, logistics, e-commerce and other essential services.
She added that the initiative would also strengthen planning, improve transparency, enhance beneficiary targeting and support more effective policy implementation across various sectors.
The NIMC boss further disclosed that NIPOST had been licensed as a front-end enrolment partner, enabling Nigerians to enrol for their National Identification Number at post offices nationwide.
She said, “The Postmaster General and I sat down a couple of months ago, and what we did was to give them an enrolment licence to make them a front-end partner. Nigerians who want to go to post offices can enrol, and they will capture their details on our behalf.”
Describing the integration as a major milestone, Coker-Odusote said it would create a national database linking verified identities with verified addresses and locations.
“This particular one that we’re also working on is a game changer for the country because now you have the verified identities of individuals with verified addresses and verified locations,” she said.
She noted that the collaboration would significantly improve address verification for financial institutions, government agencies and private businesses.
“We are making sure that there’s accuracy when it comes to address verification, which will then make the lives of the financial institutions and every other business, all private sector companies and the government trying to confirm the address of an individual in this country.”
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She also said the partnership would strengthen Nigeria’s digital public infrastructure by connecting identity, payments and data exchange systems, creating multiple opportunities for the digital economy.
On enforcement under the newly enacted NIMC Act 2026, Coker-Odusote said the law had strengthened the commission’s powers to combat identity fraud.
She explained that although the commission now has broader enforcement powers and can impose penalties, arrests would continue to be carried out in collaboration with security agencies, while prosecutions would involve the Federal Ministry of Justice.
According to her, the NIMC Act 2026 has modernised Nigeria’s legal framework for digital identity, positioning the commission as the custodian of the country’s digital public infrastructure for identity and the root certification authority for the national public key infrastructure.
She stressed that no single institution could build a resilient digital economy alone, adding that trusted identity must be complemented by trusted location information.
In her remarks, Odeyemi described the digital postcode initiative as a solution to Nigeria’s long-standing addressing challenges, explaining that every standing structure in the country would be assigned a unique GIS-enabled, machine-readable location identifier.
“What we’re building actually gives a unique identifier to every single standing structure in Nigeria,” she said. “We’re giving a unique GIS-enabled, machine-readable location identifier to every standing building in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
She said the project would modernise Nigeria’s addressing system, improve logistics, emergency response, planning and access to public services.
According to her, the partnership extends beyond database integration and is aimed at delivering value to citizens by combining trusted identity with trusted location information.
“Every modern economy depends on two critical capabilities: knowing who people are and knowing where they are. Identity gives people access; the postcode that we’re building gives service direction,” she said.
Odeyemi disclosed that although the national digital postcode project was first conceived in 2006, it had received full Federal Government funding for the first time under the current administration.
She said, “The Nigerian Postal Service has been trying this project, I think, since 2006. This is the first time that this project has been fully funded by the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
She added that the funding reflected the administration’s recognition of digital identity and national addressing as critical infrastructure for inclusion and economic development.
“It took almost 20 years for this particular project because Mr President understands how foundational it is. Just the same way he has given NIMC a mandate to ensure the inclusion of everyone, right down to the most remote wards of Nigeria, we have also been given a mandate. Every Nigerian and every location is included.”
The MoU formally integrates NIPOST into NIMC’s digital identity ecosystem and strengthens collaboration between both agencies to expand access to identity services, improve identity verification and enhance service delivery nationwide.
The agreement also reflects the commitment of both institutions to building a secure, inclusive and interoperable digital identity system in support of the Federal Government’s digital transformation agenda.