The Federal Government recently announced plans to launch a multipurpose national identity card.
The card initiative is a collaboration between the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS).
The card will be enabled for all government intervention and services across multiple Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDA).
“This card will not only serve as a means of physical identification but will also grant holders access to government and private social services, facilitate financial inclusion, and empower citizens to participate more actively in nation-building,” NIMC said.
Once available to the public, the cards can be obtained by both the banked and unbanked. According to reports, card requests may start by June. As of the end of 2023, about 104 million Nigerians had National Identification Numbers.
How to apply for a new NIMC card in 5 steps:
1. Once available, individuals can go to the nearest bank or bank-approved centre and request the payment card layered on their identity.
2. The individual must provide a NIN for identity verification and proof of a minimum age of 18.
3. The bank sends the NIN to NIMC and receives relevant authorised identity data in the specified format.
4. The bank will use this verified identity data to securely prepare the standard EMV data for the card before personalising and printing it.
5. The bank then issues the finished card to the individual.
NIMC noted that the identity part of the card will have no expiration date, while the payment feature ‘ATM card’ part of the solution has the standard expiration date printed on the front.
Once the payment feature of the card expires, the cardholder has several options, which include:
1. Going to the bank and requesting a new payment card layered on identity, discarding the previous one.
2. Continue to use the card only as a valid means of identification but not for payment.
3. Continue to use the card only as a valid means of identification without requesting a new payment card.
“The card will still function as an ATM card so it is advisable for users not to give out photocopies or scanned images of it, bearing their sensitive payment details, to unauthorised parties,” it added.
NIMC noted that the NIN on the card will not be visible on the card but can be accessed by scanning the QR code on it.
