Nigeria's plans for a card you can vote and pay with

My last column which looked at the use of PIN numbers as the central point of a government dataset got some interesting reactions, two of which I want to share.

 First was a very enlightening comment by a reader, which I was not able to respond to as comments were closed at the time. Mr. Batian wrote:

South Africa also has a unique ID system with 13 digits. These digits represent date of birth, race and a unique algorithm. The number never changes no matter how many times citizens renew their IDs.

ID numbers are currently issued within 30 days after childbirth and are printed on the Birth Certificate, such that when the person turns 16 they just file an application at Home Affairs and receive a proper ID in four weeks.

From 2012 South Africans are being issued with a new high tech driver's license-type ID which has a micro-chip containing biometric data like photo, fingerprints, etc. This new ID will be scanned at various gov't departments, banks and other places for personal authentication before service is given to the applicant.

Also, there was an attempt at using them at ATMs, but a huge public outcry put paid to those plans. Make no mistake about it, the South Africa ID system is one of the best in the world.

BOTH ID AND PAYMENT

Next was an alert from Nigeria about the launch, in August 2014 of a MasterCard-branded National e-ID card. Nigeria has no ID card and the government plans to use a new card to harmonise and complement some existing identification data sets and systems in the country.  

Around 13 features are planned to be included in the cards such as digital signatures, voter registration, driver’s license, health insurance, tax, passport, and payments functions via a linked virtual account.

The system will also have a firewall that restricts access each time a card is read, so if the card is used as a voter’s card, only that data portion of the card is used, and not any other, like the payment side.

The pilot phase is on-going with a planned roll out of 13 million cards, with features from different partner organizations. The system is based on the NIMC registration number which is the most important feature, and the cards are linked to a virtual account that the owner can top up and use as a normal prepaid Visa card.

Partnering with the government’s Nigerian Identity Management Commission currently are MasterCard Africa, Access Bank, and Unified Payment Services, among others. It has gone live with Access Bank, and eventually all other banks will join in, while Access Bank will maintain the float for the card wallets. 

REGULATED COSTS

It’s interesting that, unlike in Kenya where banking costs are unregulated, the Central Bank of Nigeria plays an active role as a regulator engaged in consumer protection, and sets the price of services. So whichever bank issues the cards, associated costs will be standard across all banks. This also applies to other bank services such as ATM transactions which the government sets.

The card represents a unique solution for Nigeria. For the government, it tackles a long standing problem of identity management, as well as a security one, while for a partners like MasterCard it is not corporate social responsibility (CSR) but a serious project with quantifiable benefits. 

NIMC a will also operate call centre for card queries, that will escalates issues depending on which service provider is being queried.

The card is accessible to all Nigerians over the age of 16, and can be applied for by submitting demographic and biometric data (eye, fingerprint and facial picture scans) at various government centres. The biometric information occupies only a small portion of the card leaving room for the other services.

For payments, Nigeria has a goal to have 70 per cent of the population using formal banking by the year 2020, up from 34 per cent now. This is no mean feat, and is actually gargantuan in a country with an estimated population of 174 million which is expected to reach 440 million by the year 2050.

Twitter: @bankelele