Nigeria maintains multiple parallel identification systems, including the National Identity Number (NIN), Bank Verification Number (BVN), voter registration, and telecommunications SIM registration, each operating without shared infrastructure. Drawing on qualitative comparative institutional analysis of policy documents, official agency materials, and published scholarship, this paper examines how this fragmented architecture affects administrative reach and state capacity. The analysis finds that parallel registries produce systematic verification inconsistencies, raise transaction costs for citizens and government, constrain financial inclusion, and generate enforcement gaps that weaken service delivery and regulatory effectiveness. The paper argues that the central problem is not the absence of digital identification but the lack of interoperability between systems. By reframing digital identity as public administrative infrastructure, the paper contributes to debates on governance and service delivery in developing states and proposes an evidence-based institutional pathway for harmonisation centred on the NIN.
NIN, BVN, voter registration, and SIM systems operate without shared infrastructure, creating systematic verification inconsistencies.
Parallel registries raise transaction costs for both citizens and government, undermining administrative efficiency.
Identification fragmentation constrains financial inclusion and limits access to formal economic participation.
The central problem is not absence of digital ID but lack of interoperability — a NIN-centred harmonisation pathway is proposed.