Twenty years later, the school enrolment increased tremendously from 264 students in 1963 to 7,140 students in 1983, while school budget skyrocketed from P64.000.00 to about four million pesos (P4,000,000.00) for the same period. The huge appropriation constituted a big grain on the city coffers.
In November 1983, the bill sponsored by the Assemblyman Abdullah Dimaporo to nationalize the high school upon recommendation of the City Mayor Cabili and the Sangguniang Panglunsod was signed into law and the ICNHS became Iligan City National High School with a national budget of P4,600.000.00 for calendar year 1984.
ICNHS pursues the educational goals and objectives of the DepEd and directs all its efforts to contribute towards the attainment of the National Development.