NIMC to roll out multipurpose biometric ID card

The Director General and Chief Executive Officer of NIMC, Dr Abisoye Coker-Odusote, who disclosed this at a media briefing on improved NIN card in Abuja at the weekend, said the move is in collaboration with the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS).

The briefing was attended by the Managing Director/CEO of Nigerian Interbank Settlement System, Mr Premier Oiwoh; the Managing Director/CEO of AfriGO, Ebehije Momoh and the Managing Director of Data Mining Company, Femi Akande.

Coker-Odusote said the new card programme aims to address multiple use cases of federal government and private sector interventions and also targeted at addressing social and economic issues in the country, with the payment functionalities and identity as a foundation.

She said: “The key features of this card, are the biometric, based on the fingerprint, which is the only one that is currently unique; the card has a long validity period because it’s also fully KYC enabled; it has an offline and online capability, which means in locations where there are limited access to internet, this card will still work and be used for those services that it’s designed to achieve.

“And you can meet out cash, digital tokens, wallet, and email and it also has some banking details inside the chip that enables the holder to perform every other thing that can be done with ENV-enabled card.

“On the back, the card provides additional functionalities which enable Nigerians and those who are going to have access to it to be able to prove their identity at any point in time they are called to do that.”