diff --git a/Makefile.include b/Makefile.include
index 1b72b3137729c834f7e28ea86d7708df2cde2709..013c80be18ad69b0909a99fd1916de24ad67bec2 100644
--- a/Makefile.include
+++ b/Makefile.include
@@ -130,6 +130,14 @@ endif
 include $(RIOTBASE)/Makefile.modules
 include $(RIOTBOARD)/$(BOARD)/Makefile.include
 include $(RIOTCPU)/$(CPU)/Makefile.include
+
+# get number of interfaces straight before resolving dependencies
+NG_NETIF_NUMOF ?= 1
+
+ifneq ($(NG_NETIF_NUMOF),1)
+  CFLAGS += -DNG_NETIF_NUMOF=$(NG_NETIF_NUMOF)
+endif
+
 include $(RIOTBASE)/Makefile.dep
 
 USEMODULE += $(filter-out $(DISABLE_MODULE), $(DEFAULT_MODULE))