The national identification card is a key piece of information that opens door to citizen’s personal information.
And because it is national, it is sovereign just like Nigeria as a country. It is one of the symbols of modern day nationhood; one that identifies every Nigerian with the country called Nigeria.
It is expected to help the federal government plan, budget, protect and serve the citizenry. It is all the “data surveillance” on Nigerians.
There are therefore a million and one reasons for a robust national ID card scheme after several bungled attempts.
But it is morally reprehensible; careless; and unpatriotic that an agreement for such a delicate project was signed in the first place between the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and MasterCard incorporated for the pilot phase of the rollout of national identity smart cards.
This agreement has simply pushed Nigeria and her citizens into the abyss of vulnerabilities.
Though biometrics belonging to Nigerians remains with the NIMC, MasterCard is clearly the unseen hands.
So what then is the rationale of giving Nigeria’s payments transactions of the National ID to MasterCard when all the payments processing in Nigeria are being handled competently by Interswitch, Card Technology Limited and Unified Payments Limited.?
Today, over 70 per cent of bank customers in Nigeria use Verve payments cards from Interswitch, Genesis Payment cards from eTranzact and Freedom Card from 3 Line Card Management Limited for their day-to-day payment transactions.
It is really unfortunate that MasterCard intend s to use Nigerian resources to strengthen it so called Alternative Payments.
MasterCard claimed that it will rely on Unified Payments Services Limited (formerly Valucard), as the payment processor with Access Bank Plc as the pilot issuer bank for the cards while other issuing banks will include United Bank for Africa, Union Bank, Zenith, Skye Bank, Unity Bank, Stanbic and First Bank.
Awarding the contract to MasterCard negates the principle of backward integration and patriotism and detracts gravely from the transformation agenda which the government of President Goodluck Jonathan so profoundly professes.
We agree with all the popular outcries to the contract including that MasterCard’s handling of the contract means submitting in full consciousness the individual and collective identities of Nigerians to a foreign company at a time issues of cybercrime and espionage have become clear and present threats to the internal securities of nations.
Nigerian companies have everything it take to issue highly secure national ID cards to effectively minimize identity theft, manage immigration and maintain accurate civil registry data.
It is the only logical thing to because ID like Nigerian Army should not be left to a foreign company or Army.