The federal executive council (FEC) has approved a new
policy that allows commercial banks to issue customers with debit cards that
double as national identity cards at no extra cost.
The council gave the approval on Wednesday at a meeting
presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Briefing journalists at the end of the meeting, Isa Pantami,
minister of communication and digital economy, said the directive was from the
National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), allowing banks to print debit
cards that double as national identity cards.
“It is going to be a form of the multipurpose card where it will serve as your national identity card on one hand, and also your bank card on the other hand, either Mastercard, Visa or any other kind of card,” the minister said.
Pantami said although the NIMC Act of 2007, only mandates
Nigerians to have a NIN and not necessarily a printout card, demands for cards
have swelled nonetheless.
“As in the NIMC Act of 2007, section 27, what is mandatory
for our citizens and legal residents is the acquiring of the national identity
number, not the card. However, the card is optional,” Pantami added.
“But many citizens, particularly those living in rural
communities, always go to NIMC offices complaining that they need the card at
hand, even though it’s optional.
“To make it easier,
NIMC last year, we introduced a smart ID card you can download from the NIMC
app. It is just a smart card. You don’t need to have it physically, but that is
becoming difficult for our people living in rural communities.
“To ease the difficulty, NIMC has partnered with the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) so citizens who are interested in having a card at hand
can easily go to the relevant banks.
“The bank is permitted to print the card along with either a
Mastercard or Visa card. It is going to be a form of a multipurpose card that
will serve as your national identity card on one hand and also your bank card
on the other. And based on the agreement, it is without any additional costs to
our citizens.
“So when you apply for a card at your bank, you can indicate
that ‘I want this card to serve multiple purposes where it will serve as my
bank card and also my national identity card’. Both of them are going to be
printed on the same card and it is going to serve the same purposes without any
additional costs.”
The minister also said NIMC and the CBN had signed an
agreement to protect card applicants.
He said the two entities signed a nondisclosure agreement
where customers’ privacy and confidentiality must be respected in the course of
providing the cards.
“When you apply for the card, the bank will apply online to
NIMC through their database. When they verify and confirm that your record in
the database is in alignment with your record in the NIMC database, it will be
permitted and the card is going to be printed for you immediately,” Pantami
explained.
FEC OKAYS AUTOMATED
SYSTEM FOR NIN-SIM LINKAGE
Pantami said the council also approved a memo proposing the
deployment of an automated system to integrate NINs with individual SIM cards.
The system, he said, is to consolidate the implementation of
the NIN-SIM linkage.
“As we all know, the
previous administrations made efforts to verify NIN and SIM starting from 2011
without success,” Pantami said.
“In February 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the
implementation of the policy, and the revised version of the policy was also
launched and unveiled by Mr. President on May 6, 2021.
“As it stands today,
the NIN and SIM policy registration is being implemented.
“In order to consolidate the implementation, the Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC) came up with a proposal that will enhance the
implementation of the policy and bring many more benefits to it.”
The minister assured that the automated system would
sanitise the database and ease the process of SIM replacement for Nigerians or
legal residents.
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