The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has disclosed that the new national identity card is a unified, multipurpose card, rather than three distinct cards.
The Head of Corporate Communications at NIMC, Kayode Adegoke, disclosed this on Friday in a note titled “Key Facts About the Proposed New General Multipurpose National Identity Card”.
On April 5, the commission declared its collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System to introduce a new card featuring payment functionality for various social and financial services.
Part of the note read, “The new national ID card is a single, convenient, and general multipurpose card, eliminating the need for multiple cards—not three.
“The single GMPC has multiple use cases: payments/financial, government intervention/services, travel, etc.”
As per the commission’s guidelines, individuals interested in obtaining the card will need to request it along with their NIN through the self-service online portal, NIMC offices, or their designated banks.
Additionally, the card will be distributed through the applicants’ respective banks following the standard protocols for issuing debit and credit cards.
“The card can be picked up by holders at the designated centre or delivered to the applicants at the requested location at an extra cost to be borne by the applicants,” it stated.
Previously, the commission revealed that the card, manufactured in accordance with ICAO standards, was designated as the nation’s primary national identity card.
According to NIMC, the card will empower eligible individuals, particularly those marginalized from social and financial services, to avail themselves of various government intervention programs.