FCT, ALGON MOBILIZE STAKEHOLDERS FOR PROOF OF ADDRESS SYSTEM, SET JULY 1 FOR ROLLOUT
By Olayiwiola Ibrahim // The Federal Capital Territory Administration, the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, and technical partners have launched a sensitisation campaign for the Proof of Address, POA, initiative in the FCT.
Enforcement is set to begin on July 1, 2026.
The move marks a decisive shift away from Nigeria’s reliance on utility bills for identity and residence verification.
At a stakeholders’ engagement in Abuja today, speakers noted that the absence of a credible and uniform address framework has fuelled fraud, slowed emergency response, and made evidence-based governance difficult.
Delivering opening remarks, Mr. Ikechukwu Nwabueze, Deputy Director in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, who represented the Permanent Secretary, Common Services Office, said the initiative would provide a reliable way to verify residence through the local government system.
A functional proof of address system is a key part of modern governance.
Accurate address data supports effective planning, efficient service delivery, emergency response, and access to opportunities, Nwabueze said.
He added that successful implementation in the FCT would serve as a model for the 36 states.
Chief William Lamo, ALGON’s representative, said Nigeria’s dependence on utility bills as proof of residence has created loopholes for fraud.
He shared how a domestic worker who stole his passport, phone, and money fled to Kaduna and was only traced through mobile network cooperation.
If MTN, the police and others had not helped, the phone would have been gone.
All the details would have been lost, Lamo said.
He argued that a geolocated address system integrated with the National Identification Number, NIN, would help solve such crimes and save Nigerians from the embarrassment of fraud and inconsistency.
Prince Segun Obayendo, technical partner, said the utility bill system does not capture accurate numbers of residents.
Your utility bill cannot tell us the exact number of people living in a local government.
It is our weakest link because it does not capture everyone in a house,” he said.
He linked this gap to controversies around the national social register and the billions spent trying to identify the poor.
He compared Nigeria’s use of estimates with countries where local authorities can instantly produce demographic data.
He said the POA is both a security and administrative tool.
Can we stop planning with estimated figures? Every time we talk about our numbers, it is always estimated.
For how long will we keep doing that? he asked.
Under a demand-induced model, agencies will require the POA for services such as driver’s licences, international passports, land transactions, and bank accounts, instead of forcing mass re-registration.
If you want a driver’s licence, the federal system will roll it out, Obayendo explained.
As part of the documentation, you will provide your local government proof of address.
All six FCT area councils have passed the enabling law, and about 24 state governors have signed on.
On integration, Obayendo said: The architecture we are presenting today connects NIMC, postcode, and proof of address.
They will be embedded and intertwined so that Nigerians are fully covered.
The Abuja engagement was designed to raise awareness and clarify implementation steps among institutions that will drive the rollout.
Participants were urged to give feedback to fine-tune the system before full deployment.
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