Nigeria has officially launched the ECOWAS National Biometric Identity Card (ENBIC), a major step toward enhancing regional integration, improving identity management, and strengthening security across West Africa.

Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo unveiled the card on Friday at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, describing it as “a powerful new beginning” for secure mobility and regional cooperation.

Adopted by ECOWAS in 2014 to replace handwritten travel certificates, the biometric card stores both biometric and biographical data on an electronic chip, enabling secure verification, reducing fraud, and easing intra-regional travel. Senegal issued the first cards in 2016, followed by Guinea-Bissau, Ghana, Benin, The Gambia, and Sierra Leone. Nigeria is now the seventh member state to implement the system.

Acknowledging the delay in Nigeria’s rollout, Tunji-Ojo called it “unusual” but commended President Bola Tinubu for ensuring the project’s completion.

He said the card will form the foundation of a new security and identity ecosystem, transforming intelligence gathering, border control, and efforts to combat irregular migration. The government is also exploring a regional migration database in collaboration with ECOWAS, similar to Europe’s Schengen system.

“Identification is the bedrock of security. You cannot protect who you do not know,” Tunji-Ojo stressed.