The activation of the Euromoney/Visa/MasterCard Automated Teller Machine (EMV/ATM) ‘world’ in partnership with MasterCard has drawn significant criticisms even from those who alleged that they introduced MasterCard to the NIMS project. Interesting!
Again, five points to note: first, MasterCard was not awarded the contract for the production of the national e-ID card. Second, there is no risk to our national security whatsoever. The National Identity Database that contains our biometric data is not open to anyone. Fact is, only some of an individual’s demographic data are made available to a wholly-Nigerian company for the purpose of preparing the ‘virtual account data’ (pre-paid) that is used to activate the EMV solution on the chip during card activation. At best all parties to the ATM solution on the card have access to only transaction data – digits and numerals that are associated with transactions on the ‘virtual account’!
Not too long ago a former president of the Nigerian Computer Society held a press conference to condemn government for allegedly awarding a contract for the production of the e-ID cards to MasterCard. I expect more of such unprofessional comments, now that the card has been launched.
Ironically, in spite of such criticisms, some companies have since been awarded contracts by some state governments to implement exactly what is being condemned – with MasterCard! So the question for another day is what has changed? What is most tragic is the level of misrepresentation of facts, trying to mislead the public in the face of laudable government efforts.
READ ALSO:
The talk about national security concerns is because there is not enough understanding of the way the card is designed. I have only made a brief reference to it above to preserve the security and integrity of the system and the card. To those who are quick to illustrate their reservations with the experience in Russia lately, please take your time to reflect on the fact that branded payment solutions like MasterCard do in fact operate in Russia and South Africa for pensioners, and are now being developed for UAE and the US, to mention just a few. It’s the global trend.
The MasterCard-national security concerns are a fallacy considering the fact that MasterCard operates in 210 countries including Russia, and recently in Mexico and South Africa where the payment solution is used for targeted strata of the population. If foreigners dismiss this innovation with a wave of the hand and mindset as in John 1: 46 (“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”), must we as Nigerians if it works for us? As Albert Einstein put it years ago, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
But there is a difference between an ATM card and a national identity card with multiple functionalities including payment functionality. What has national pride got to do with this? A lot, I guess, but we are the first to make this one work! As Appadorai puts it in his book, Substance of Politics: “For forms of government, let fools contend, whatever is best administered is best.” Very few people have bothered to ask why NIMC adopted the ‘e-ID/payment nexus’ for the card and with so much security features!
Why was a Nigeria payment platform not used? How did MasterCard and not another payment platform get selected? What if I do not want it? Several questions. It’s very simple. By the way, until recently there were no foreign payment solutions operating locally in Nigeria. And only one brand held sway, remember? In any case for close to three years the ‘local payment platforms’ slept over their opportunity, I guess, because the scheme was not viable and therefore it was not profitable for them. They did very little to exploit the economic opportunities. The ‘e-ID’ and the ‘EMV’ sides of the card are separately governed and managed. Except where necessary, all rules governing the ATM cards govern the ‘ATM side’ of this e-ID card. The additional benefits of unique identification, nay, KYC, are then served simultaneously by the e-ID on the same card!
READ ALSO: Nigeria needs active economic diplomacy as a growth strategy
When you are invited to collect your e-ID card, you will have to activate the ‘e-ID’ side using your biometrics, and then ‘ATM’ side using a PIN number. They are separate processes. So if you do not want the ATM side, you do not activate it, simple! The MasterCard logo appearing on the e-ID card is conventional practice, it’s the norm in the electronics payments sector and it’s used for ‘introducing’ or identifying the card as a payment card to a merchant location. NIMC in fact chose to put the logo at the back to ensure that the primacy of the card as an e-ID card is not in doubt because of the payment functionality. At the risk of sounding immodest and being grossly misunderstood, NIMC should be commended and encouraged for being resourceful and thinking through a process for ensuring the sustainability and a deeper role for the e-ID card.
The NIMC effort represents an attempt at leapfrogging the e-ID/payment nexus, which is the global trend supportive of cashless economy, electronic payment industry, financial inclusion, improving the business environment, deepening consumer credit and freeing up resources for better optimisation in the economy. It is an antidote for the ever-increasing cost of doing business, difficulty in accessing credits, bank customer acquisition, proliferation of photo IDs and the dearth of a reliable identity authentication and verification infrastructure and a host of others.
Call it an audacious government strategy, if you like, for confronting the problem of identity-theft-related fraudulent practices, stimulating consumer demand and local production, growth in GDP, general economic well-being and security of lives and property! That’s what transformations are made of.
What NIMC needs is not the barrage of attacks but providing the support to sustain the NIMS through its take-off phase, how to get the system to operate successfully in areas where serious infrastructure gaps remain a challenge, how to sustain the multiple-layered security infrastructure with a dedicated, well-motivated loyal, requisite personnel with integrity. One more thing: a genuine private sector commitment to take over its own side of the project currently being managed by the NIMC.
Chris Onyemenam
