Banks can now issue NIN-enabled ATM cards to Nigerians, says FG
Nigerians can now request commercial banks to issue them with a debit card, doubled as National Identity Card at no extra cost, the Federal Government has said.
Prof Isa Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, while making this known in Abuja, said the approval was obtained at the meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
Pantami said that the approval followed a memo from the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to allow banks to print multipurpose debit cards that double as National identity cards.
He said, ”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, while explaining that although the NIMC Act 2007 only mandates Nigerians to have a National Identity Number and not necessarily a printout card, said demands for cards have swelled nonetheless.
“As in the NIMC Act 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.
“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, Pantami said NIMC had partnered with the Central Bank of Nigeria “so that citizens who are interested in having a card at hand can easily go to the relevant banks.”
According to him, the bank is permitted to print the card along with either 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 be 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.”
Pantami also explained that NIMC and the CBN signed a nondisclosure agreement to protect the privacy and confidentiality of card applicants.
“NIMC and the central bank signed a nondisclosure agreement where your privacy and your confidentiality must be respected in the course of providing the card for you.
“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,” the minister added.
NAN
