The MasterCard’s Nigerian National Electronic Identity (e-ID) card has been declared winner at this year’s Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Card, ATM and Mobile Expo Awards held in Lagos, reports ITRealms.
Powered by Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System and CBN, the award recognizes the payment product that has successfully expanded financial inclusion and developed Nigeria’s cashless policy.
The National e-ID card with MasterCard’s prepaid payments functionality, ITRealms learnt, is currently being issued by the Nigerian Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to 13 million Nigerians as part of a pilot programme launched in 2014.
The Director General and CEO,NIMC, Barr. Chris E. Onyemenam stated after the award, “We are extremely honoured to receive this prestigious award, which recognises the strides we are making in providing a convenient, safe, and cost effective electronic payments product to Nigerians- 64 per cent of whom do not have a bank account,”
He went further to say “Combining an identity card MasterCard’s prepaid payment capability creates a game changer as it breaks down the most significant barrier to financial inclusion – proof of identity - while simultaneously enabling Nigerians to access state-of-the-art financial services,” ITRealms gathered.
It is envisaged that on completion
of the pilot programme, NIMC plans to introduce more than 100 million cards to
Nigeria’s 170 million citizens, making this the largest rollout of an
electronic payment solution in the country and the broadest financial inclusion
program in Africa. The e-ID as a payment tool, ITRealms reports, enables cardholders to
deposit funds, save, withdraw cash at ATMs, and pay for goods and services at
any of the millions of MasterCard acceptance locations globally or via online
shopping portals.
Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE
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Pix:
(From left to right) Oladipo Ogunsulire, MasterCard, Kenny Teller, MasterCard, Mrs Onadeko, NIMC, Mrs Ejiofor, NIMC and Taiwo Adebayo MasterCard at the CBN Card Expo 2015 Awards ceremony, where the Nigerian National e-ID Card (NeID) won the award for Best Financial Inclusion Product.
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