by Rhoda Wilson, Expose News:
Earlier this month, the National Identity Management Commission of Nigeria (“NIMC”) announced the introduction of a new digital identity (“digital ID”) card. This digital ID will be linked to a bank account held at Nigeria’s central bank, which has already launched a central bank digital currency (“CDBC”).
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The digital ID, whose launch is supported by the Central Bank of Nigeria (“CBN”) and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (“NIBSS”), will have payments and social service delivery functions and will facilitate access to other services including travel, health insurance information, microloans, agriculture, food stamps, transport and energy subsidies, just to mention a few, with payment and financial services being powered by a central bank pre-paid/debit/credit card scheme dubbed AfriGo.
Among other features, the digital ID card will have a machine-readable zone in line with the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (“ICAO’s”) standards for biometric passports, a QR code that will contain the holder’s National Identification Number (“NIN”), and the possibility for face and fingerprints biometric authentication as the primary medium for identity verification through the data on the card chip, Biometric Update said.
Effectively, Nigeria’s new digital ID is linked to a person’s central bank account. Nigeria already has a CBDC, the eNaira, which was launched in October 2021. One of the reasons the eNaira was needed, it is claimed, was to increase financial inclusion by allowing those with a mobile phone but without a bank account to have access to the CBDC through their smartphones.
Smartphones are also linked to people’s digital IDs; the process has been far from voluntary. In December 2023, companies offering telecommunications services in Nigeria were given a fresh order from the federal government to entirely block all phone Subscriber Identity Module (“SIM”) cards not linked to the biometrics-backed NIN by 28 February 2024.
Since April 2022, an order for the partial block of over 70 million SIM cards not linked to the owner’s digital ID has been in place. However, it is a one-way barring as only outgoing calls are not supported on such SIM cards. From 28 February 2024 therefore, all categories of SIM cards whose owners have not done the NIN linkage will be fully deprived of access to all call and data services, Biometric Update said.
For Nigeria, the totalitarian system of control – the perimeters of the electronic prison which will be used to restrict and control every aspect of people’s lives and the entire population – is now in place.
AfriGo “Financial Inclusion”
In January 2023, the CBN launched the AfriGo debit card “to strengthen the cashless economy … to strengthen the national payment system and strengthen the usage of electronic platforms in Nigeria.” It is an additional means of payment to the existing Mastercard, Visa, Verve and Interswitch cards but can only be used within Nigeria.
The CBN gave financial inclusion, to free up forex reserves, reducing operating costs for financial institutions and data sovereignty as some of the reasons for launching the card.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has been on a “financial inclusion” drive for most of the last decade, Tech Point wrote. CBN Governor said AfriGo would help drive financial inclusion in the country.
According to the World Bank, financial inclusion means that people and businesses can access useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs. The World Bank sees a financially included society as one where people, regardless of location, ethnicity or other factors, are not deprived of access to financial services, Tech Point wrote.
Financial inclusion is an oft-stated goal of the CBN. In 2012, it launched the National Financial Inclusion Strategy to reduce the number of Nigerians excluded from financial services from 46.3% in 2010 to 20% by 2020 … On all counts, the CBN has failed to meet any of [its] targets.
The claim that a domestic card scheme [AfriGo] will drive financial inclusion in Nigeria has no merit. As the World Bank’s definition explains, financial inclusion implies one has affordable access to financial services.
Many financially excluded Nigerians are not in that position by choice. The country’s high poverty levels mean that even where these individuals have been encouraged to create accounts, they simply cannot … Most of Nigeria’s financially excluded people live in rural areas and earn way less than the national minimum wage. Furthermore, they often live far away from banks and other financial services providers. Consequently, opening a bank account could mean travelling long distances.
With the AfriGo card, the CBN is putting the cart before the horse for financial inclusion in Nigeria, Tech Point, 6 February 2023
Digital ID “Financial Inclusion”
On 5 April, NIMC wrote in an announcement introducing the digital ID card: “This card will address the demand for physical identification enabling cardholders prove their identity, access government and private sector services, facilitate financial inclusion for disenfranchised Nigerians, empower citizens, as well as encourage increased participation in nation-building.”
Although the digital ID card is to “facilitate financial inclusion” it excludes some people living in Nigeria.
“Only registered citizens and legal residents with the National Identification Number [“NIN”] will be eligible to request the card. Cardholders will also be able to use the cards as debit or prepaid cards by linking same to bank accounts of their choice. The cards shall enable eligible persons especially those financially excluded from social and financial services have access to multiple government intervention programmes,” the announcement said.
