The Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Dr Aminu Yusuf, has died, barely eight months after assuming office.
Yusuf, who was appointed by President Bola Tinubu and sworn in as chairman of the commission in December 2025, reportedly died on Friday.
Presidency sources confirmed the development, although the cause of death was not immediately disclosed. Neither the NPC nor Yusuf’s family had issued an official statement as of the time of filing this report.
His death comes just weeks after the commission launched the nationwide rollout of its digital birth and death registration platform, VitalReg, under the Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (E-CRVS) system. The platform became fully operational across the country on July 1, 2026.
Yusuf’s passing is expected to trigger a leadership transition at the commission, which is responsible for generating population and demographic data for national planning, policy formulation and development programmes.
President Tinubu had sworn Yusuf into office alongside two members of the commission, Dr Joseph Haruna Kigbu and Tonga Betara Bulatafa.
Before his appointment, Yusuf had a career spanning education, politics, governance, grassroots mobilisation and community development.
According to the NPC, he was born on April 15, 1960, in Wushishi, Niger State. He attended LEA Primary School, Zungeru, and Federal Government College, Odogbolu, Ogun State, before beginning a career in public service.
Between 2019 and 2023, he served as Special Adviser on Political Affairs to the Governor of Niger State. He also served as Assistant Director, Grassroots Mobilisation (North Central), for the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council in 2022.
Before becoming NPC chairman, Yusuf was the National President of the Niger State College of Education Alumni Association, Minna. He was also involved in several skills acquisition and empowerment programmes for women and youths in the Niger North Senatorial District.
Upon assuming office, Yusuf pledged to strengthen the commission and improve the delivery of reliable demographic data to support national development.
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One of the major milestones of his tenure was the acceleration of Nigeria’s civil registration system through digitalisation. Under his leadership, the commission introduced the nationwide electronic registration of births and deaths through the VitalReg platform.
Yusuf remained active in the commission’s activities until his death. In January 2026, he led a delegation of senior NPC officials to the palace of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, to seek the support of traditional institutions in promoting population awareness and civil registration across the country.
His death marks the end of a tenure that lasted less than a year but was marked by efforts to modernise Nigeria’s population registration system.
