By Jessica Osajie / Posted January 27, 2025
Engr. Bisoye Coker-Odusote, Director-General (DG) of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Bisoye Coker-Odusote, has announced at a media briefing in Abuja, an important advancement in Nigeria’s identity management system that an improved multi-purpose biometric identity card will soon be made available.
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According to her, the new multi-purpose biometric identity card, which will be available soon, is designed to integrate payment features and expand its utility beyond basic identification, offering diverse applications to address the country’s social and economic challenges.
The NIMC boss disclosed that the innovative card will enhance access to special interventions from both public and private sectors, improving efficiency in delivering services such as financial inclusion, welfare programs, healthcare, and more.
Importantly, the development marks a step forward in leveraging technology to drive national development, secure data, and streamline citizen interactions with government and business services.
“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 offline and online capability, which means in locations where there is limited access to internet, this card will still work and be used for those services that it’s designed to achieve,” Coker-Odusote said.
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“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.”
Coker-Odusote also said the second programme of the card, called the Government of People card, G2P, reflects the current need for government and its agencies, and even the private sectors, to be able to identify people who are providing such services in a very secure and verifiable manner.
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She also disclosed that the card would be made available to Nigerians at an affordable cost and also, saying that the newly designed biometric card is designed to uplift 133 million Nigerians out of poverty and provide seamless services. This is the part that observers call for more clarification.
NOTE: Jessica is on Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) at DDNEWSONLINE.COM from the Department of Mass Communication, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).