The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security have deepened their collaboration to ensure that government agricultural interventions reach genuine farmers through digital identity verification.
The commitment was made on Thursday during a meeting in Abuja between the Director-General of NIMC, Engr. Abisoye Coker-Odusote, and the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari.
Under the partnership, the National Identification Number (NIN) and NIMC’s identity verification platform will be used to authenticate beneficiaries of government agricultural programmes, with the aim of improving transparency, eliminating fraud and ensuring that support reaches legitimate farmers and agribusiness operators.
Speaking at the meeting, Kyari said the ministry had already begun deploying NIMC’s identity management infrastructure to verify beneficiaries of its intervention programmes, noting that the initiative had enhanced transparency and encouraged greater youth participation in agriculture over the past three years.
The minister also disclosed that the Federal Government is restructuring its agricultural subsidy programme to promote self-reliance among beneficiaries. He explained that support would be highest in the first year, reduced in the second year and phased out by the third year to enable beneficiaries to become financially independent while creating opportunities for more farmers to access government assistance.
According to him, the approach is designed to encourage sustainable agricultural production, improve productivity and expand the reach of intervention programmes.
In her remarks, Coker-Odusote described agriculture as a critical sector for Nigeria’s food security and economic development, assuring the ministry of NIMC’s continued support in providing secure identity verification services.
She said the recently enacted NIMC Act 2026 has further strengthened the commission’s role as Nigeria’s foundational identity authority, enabling it to provide trusted digital authentication services to ministries, departments and agencies.
The NIMC Director-General noted that integrating the National Identification Number into agricultural programmes would improve accountability, curb fraud, eliminate ghost beneficiaries and ensure that public resources are directed to deserving farmers.
She added that the partnership would also support the Federal Government’s digital transformation agenda by enhancing service delivery, improving monitoring and planning of agricultural interventions, and advancing sustainable food security under the Renewed Hope Agenda.