NIRA Concludes Parish-Level Services, Grapples with 5 Million Uncollected National IDs

The National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) has officially ended its nationwide parish-level registration and enrolment exercise, returning all operations to district offices. The move comes as the authority reveals a significant backlog, with over five million national identity cards remaining uncollected by the public.

Registrar Claire Ollama announced the conclusion of the decentralized service on Monday, following an extended exercise that began on 27 May 2025 and closed on 8 February 2026. The initiative was initially planned for six months but was extended to allow greater public access.

The exercise aimed to enrol 17.2 million Ugandans, covering renewals of expired cards and first-time issuance for children with National Identification Numbers (NIN) who had come of age. However, Ollama reported that only 37.3% of the targeted children were enrolled, a shortfall attributed to reliance on parents and caretakers.

While NIRA successfully migrated over 28.5 million records to its new system and printed more than 10 million cards for qualified applicants, the collection rate is alarmingly low. Of the 7,261,435 cards dispatched to districts, only 2,581,457 (approximately 35%) have been collected by their owners.

“That means we have over five million cards that are due for collection across the country,” Ollama stated, urging applicants to visit their district offices promptly. She warned that failure to collect the cards could disrupt access to essential services requiring valid national identification.

With parish-level operations concluded, NIRA services have reverted to district offices nationwide. Special arrangements are in place for the high-population districts of Kampala and Wakiso:

· Kampala: Offices are located in Rubaga, on Lumumba Avenue near the Ministry of Public Service, in Lukuli (Makindye Division), and at the new Riham Factory in Kawempe.
· Wakiso: Services are available at Naluvule Station near Oil Libya, Kasangati in Masoli, and at Namugongo Martyrs Shrine.

The authority continues to encourage the public to utilise these designated offices for registration, renewal, and collection services.