For more than 500 million Africans, identity remains a privilege, not a right. On National ID Day 2026, Seamfix has called on governments, regulators and businesses to close that gap through trusted identity systems that let every person access essential services securely and participate fully in the digital economy.
The company made the call following its participation at the 8th National Day of Identity, held on September 16, 2026, and organised by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
This year’s theme, ‘My Identity, My Shadow,’ highlights the importance of ensuring that every person has an identity that can be securely recognised wherever it is required, including when opening a bank account, receiving healthcare, registering a mobile line, accessing social support or using government services.
The 500 million figure, drawn from World Bank estimates, leaves hundreds of millions unable to access these services. For Seamfix, closing that gap is central to its work: identity is a right, not a privilege, and trusted infrastructure is what makes that right usable in practice.
For 19 years, Seamfix has built and supported identity and digital trust infrastructure across Africa, contributing to the enrollment of over 130 million citizens into Nigeria’s National Identity database as one of NIMC’s trusted infrastructure partners, digitising the Republic of Benin’s passport renewal process, and delivering SIM registration compliance, identity verification, and digital registries for government and enterprise use, work that has supported over 350 million identities processed across the continent.
Chimezie Emewulu, Group Chief Executive Officer of Seamfix, said:
‘Nearly two decades of building identity infrastructure across Africa has taught us what happens when identity works, and what it costs when it doesn’t.
Africa’s prosperity depends on people being able to participate fully in the economy and society, which is why we believe identity should be a right, not a privilege, and why we will keep building the systems that make that right real. That work doesn’t stop with governments, it means partnering with every institution willing to put trust and access first.’
Across Africa, significant progress has been made in expanding access to identity, but fragmented databases, inconsistent records, limited interoperability and repeated verification requirements continue to affect service delivery in many markets, increasing onboarding costs, delaying access to essential services, and making it difficult for people to use a trusted identity across institutions. Remote and underserved communities often face the greatest difficulty enrolling or accessing linked services.
Speaking at the event, Frank Atube, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director of Seamfix, said: ‘Fragmentation isn’t about how many times someone has to verify who they are, it’s about whether the systems doing that verifying can trust each other.
‘For those inside the system, it means starting over every time because those systems don’t talk to each other, instead of trusting what’s already been confirmed. For millions of others, it means no recognised identity at all. Both are solved the same way: systems that verify people accurately, protect their data, and reach the communities current infrastructure struggles to reach. That is the real priority, not just connecting what already exists, but building access for everyone else.’
Privacy and public trust must remain central as identity systems become more connected, with individuals given clear information about how their data is collected, shared and protected, and appropriate control over its use.
Seamfix believes government agencies, regulators and private-sector organisations must continue to collaborate to connect their systems, strengthen data protection and extend identity-enabled services to underserved communities.
National ID Day provides an opportunity to recognise Nigeria’s progress and renew the commitment to identity systems that serve people reliably throughout their lives. For Seamfix, that means continuing to build the infrastructure that ensures identity is a right every person can exercise, not one reserved for those the system finds easiest to reach.