When you think about convenience just know Nigerians will be having all; for them there is no more carrying dozens of cards for their numerous bank accounts, all they need is their ID card and they can withdraw their money anywhere there is MasterCard logo in the world. Well at least that is what the country’s National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) said.
Emmanuel Ogungbe, NIMC’s director of Technical Services said that the commission had already signed an agreement with MasterCard.
“As opposed to just being an ID card, the card is also a cash card. What that means is you can also use it the way you currently use your ATM card,” he said. “So if you put money on the card, you can withdraw this money anywhere in the world that MasterCard right now is accepted. Two, it’s also a travel card. What that means is that very soon, especially within the West African sub-region, you can travel passport-free as long as you have this card with you; all one needs to do is to present it at the point of entry of any country where it will be swiped.”
Ogungbe said that the new card was error-proof as they have a system called the automated biometrics identification system that checks information of newly registered people coming into the database.
The director believed that in a crime setting the police will be get finger prints from the crime scene and send to NIMC, the commission will be able to give the full details of the criminals.
“Talk about even fraud in the banks, where someone will obtain a loan in a particular bank, move on to the next bank without servicing the previous loan to obtain another loan; that will become a thing of the past,” said Ogungbe.