FG approves merger of NIN, debit card
By Ibidunni Banjoko
The Federal Executive Council has approved a memo from the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) allowing banks to print debit cards that double as national identity cards.
The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, confirmed this at the valedictory meeting of the Federal Executive Council at the Aso Rock Villa, recently.
Commenting on the initiative, Prof. Isa Pantami said: “It is going to be a form of 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”
Pantami noted that the NIMC Act 2007 only mandates Nigerians to have a National Identity Number and not necessarily a printout card, demands for cards have swelled nonetheless.
He explained, “As in the NIMC Act 2007, section 27, what is mandatory for our citizens and legal residents is acquiring the National Identity Number, not the card. However, the card is optional.
“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 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, Pantami said, “NIMC has partnered with the Central Bank of Nigeria 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 MasterCard or Visa card. It will be a form of a multipurpose card that will serve as your national identity card on one hand and 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 have multiple purposes whereby it will serve as my bank card and also my national identity card’. Both of them will be printed on the same card and will serve the same purposes without any additional costs. So that memo has also been approved by the Federal Executive Council,” the minister said.
Nigerians can now request their commercial banks to provide them with a debit card which doubles as their National Identity Card at no extra cost than the normal fees charged for debit cards.
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