The Nigerian National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and MasterCard announced at the World Economic Forum on Africa the roll-out of 13 million MasterCard-branded national identity smart cards with electronic payment capability as a pilot program. The smart cards will incorporate unique national identification numbers (NIN) of duly registered persons in the country (capture of 10 fingerprints, facial picture and digital signature) that are used to authenticate the cardholder and eliminate fraud and embezzlement. The resultant National Identity Database will provide the platform for several other value propositions of the NIMC including identity authentication and verification. Upon completion of the National ID registration process, NIMC aims to introduce more than 100 million cards to Nigeria's 167 million citizens.
The Nigerian National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and MasterCard announced at the World Economic Forum on Africa the roll-out of 13 million MasterCard-branded national identity smart cards with electronic payment capability as a pilot program. The smart cards will incorporate unique national identification numbers (NIN) of duly registered persons in the country (capture of 10 fingerprints, facial picture and digital signature) that are used to authenticate the cardholder and eliminate fraud and embezzlement. The resultant National Identity Database will provide the platform for several other value propositions of the NIMC including identity authentication and verification. Upon completion of the National ID registration process, NIMC aims to introduce more than 100 million cards to Nigeria's 167 million citizens.
The National Identity Smart Card is the Card Scheme under the recently deployed National Identity Management System (NIMS). This program is the largest roll-out of a formal electronic payment solution in the country and the broadest financial inclusion initiative of its kind on the African continent.
In its first phase, Nigerians 16 years and older, and all residents in the country for more than two years, will get the new multipurpose identity card which has 13 applications including MasterCard's prepaid payment technology. This will have a significant and positive impact on the lives of these Nigerians who have not previously had access to financial services.
The project will have Access Bank as the pilot issuer bank for the cards and Unified Payment Services Limited (Unified Payments) as the payment processor. Other issuing banks will include United Bank for Africa, Union Bank, Zenith, Skye Bank, Unity Bank, Stanbic, and First Bank.
“Access Bank's involvement in this project is testament to our ongoing efforts to expand financial inclusion in Nigeria,” said Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, CEO of Access Bank. “The new identity card will revolutionize the Nigerian economic landscape, breaking down one of the most significant barriers to financial inclusion – proof of identity, while simultaneously providing Nigerians with a world class payment solution”.
“MasterCard has pioneered large scale card schemes that combine biometric functionality with electronic payments and we want to capitalize on their experience in this field to make our program rollout a sustainable success for the country and for the continent.” said Chris ‘E Onyemenam, the Director General and Chief Executive of the NIMC.
Thanks to the unique and unambiguous identification of individuals under the NIMS, other identification card schemes like the driver's license, voters registration, health insurance, tax, SIM and the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) will benefit and can all be integrated, using the NIN, into the multi-function card scheme of the NIMS. When fully utilizing the card as a prepaid payment tool, the cardholder can deposit funds on the card, receive social benefits, pay for goods and services at any of the 35 million MasterCard acceptance locations globally, withdraw cash from all ATMs that accept MasterCard, or engage in many other financial transactions that are facilitated by electronic payments. All in a secure and convenient environment enabled by the EMV chip and Pin standard.