Nigerians will soon begin to use a new three-in-one identity card, according to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
The new card, which will combine identity, financial, and social services, is set to be made available across the country by August this year.
A senior member of the implementation team revealed this on a condition of anonymity during an exclusive interview with Saturday PUNCH.
The official said that the NIMC has been working tirelessly to meet its goals and that the plan remains on track for launch in the upcoming months.
“We actually plan for July although there have been a few delays, but we are still hopeful that it would come in July. So we are hoping to get it done between July and August. We are still on plan and if there is any shift, the public will know,” the official said.
The commission has already started the testing and deployment stage.
He said “When you are deploying a new technology, there is a lot of work to be done. You need to configure the card, enable the outlet, and enable the wallet to work. We also have to do tests and that is what is ongoing,” the official explained.
The official added, “The deployment is ongoing. The portal that people need to access the service has to be deployed, and we have to make sure that it is scalable and those are the ongoing works.
"There are integrations that all the banks need to do to enable the card and all of those little details are ongoing. We have that target and we are working extra hard to make sure that we achieve that.”
On April 5, 2024, the NIMC announced that it had launched a new card with payment capabilities and social service features in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System.
This new identity solution is designed to offer payment capability for all types of social and financial services.
According to a statement issued by the NIMC, this initiative represents a collaborative effort to provide more options for domestic consumers while fostering the delivery of services in a more innovative, cost-effective, and competitive manner.
The new identity cards will include a bank-enabled National ID card, a social intervention card, and an optional ECOWAS National Biometric Identity Card.