"NIMC and MasterCard announce Nigerian national identity smart cards."

Nigeria announces national ID cards with electronic payment capability built in

Tefo Mohapi
Contact Author
17 May 2013
Updated at 11:49 CEST


Last week at the World Economic Forum on Africa held in Cape Town, South Africa the Nigerian National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and MasterCard announced their collaboration with plans to roll-out an initial 13 million MasterCard-branded National Identity Smart Cards with electronic payment capability.

The 13 million cards will form part of a pilot program which will see the West African country’s citizens who are 16 years and older and those who have been residents in Nigeria for more than two years being issued with the new National Identity Smart Cards.

This announcement by Nigeria sees it following in South Africa’s footsteps as the country’s Department of Home Affairs has announced that it intends starting to issue smart ID cards to citizens starting in July, 2013 at a rate of 3 million smart ID cards a year.

It is hoped in both cases that the smart ID cards will help curb the prevalent fabrication of false identity documents in both Nigeria and South Africa as they will be embedded with microchips and with the South African smart ID cards being reported to incorporate biometric features that will also prevent identity theft as a result of the fraudulent use of a stolen or lost smart ID card.

There is also a notable difference between the South African and Nigerian smart ID cards with the West African country’s smart ID cards coming with immediate payment capability’s courtesy of MasterCard’s prepaid payment technology. The cards are also reported to come loaded with 12 other applications.

In making the announcement Michael Miebach, President, Middle East and Africa for MasterCard said “Today’s announcement is the first phase of an unprecedented project in terms of scale and scope for Nigeria,”

He added “MasterCard has been a firm supporter of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Cashless Policy as we share a vision of a world beyond cash. From the program’s inception, we have provided the Federal Government of Nigeria with global insights and best practices on how electronic payments can enable economic growth and create a more financially inclusive economy”.

http://thenextweb.com/africa/2013/05/17/nigeria-announces-national-id-cards-with-electronic-payment-capability-built-in/

Plans for citizen ePassports announced in India

By Adam Vrankulj

May 28, 2013 -

The Indian Government is set to introduce an electronic and biometric passport to its citizens.

Piloted in 2008 as a test, electronic passports were issued to diplomats and other high-level officials and now the Ministry of External Affairs is ready to begin distributing the passports to Indians across the country.

Reported in iGovernment.in, the new passports contain an RFID chip in the front cover which holds a digital photograph of the passport holder as well as biometric fingerprint information.

According to the iGovernment.in report, the Ministry of External Affairs has floated a tender for the electronic chips to be used in the passports.

No stranger to biometrics, India is a hotbed for programs leveraging biometrics today. Reported previously, the fourth phase of the UIDAI’s Aadhaar program has recently been approved and aims to enroll 400 million people.

Reported previously in BiometricUpdate.com, based on the IMF’s recently published report, “Regional Outlook: Asia and Pacific,” the group notes that the integration of direct cash transfer with Aadhaar will take time, but will ultimately help the Indian government save 0.5 percent of the annual GDP.

In addition, A recent research report on the Indian biometrics market says it is poised for significant growth, thanks in part to the Aadhaar program and direct cash transfer scheme.

“India’s upcoming biometric projects such as e-passports, biometric pan cards, driving license, smart cards for BPL (Below Poverty Line) families (includes conversion of the old ration card to biometric ration cards) and much more. These biometric systems include technologies such as fingerprint scanners, iris scanners, ? and hand recognition with fingerprint scanners accounting for the highest market share in 2012.”

India’s ambitious Aadhaar program, governed by the Unique Identity Authority of India, aims to enroll all of the country’s residents through biometrics, and to distribute 12-digit identity cards used for identification and for access to resources.

http://www.biometricupdate.com/201304/indian-biometrics-market-poised-for-growth-report/

Biometric identification is now mandatory in New Delhi for those looking to register property or their marriage, among other revenue department services.

This now means that along with any other necessary documentation, an Aadhaar Unique Identification (UID) number or an enrollment slip proving biometric registration will be necessary to procure property in India. Since the revenue department’s Aadhaar mandate, the rest of the departments have decided to follow suit.

According to the Hindustan Times report, Delhi government officials said that from April 1 of this year, Aadhaar cards will be mandatory for accessing any Delhi government service.

http://www.biometricupdate.com/201302/delhi-government-sets-up-eaadhaar-counters-for-temporary-uid-cards/

“It is true that people need not enroll, but in that case, they will not be able to get the benefit of the services,” Delhi’s divisional commissioner and revenue secretary Dharam Pal said. “The idea is to link the services to biometric identity proof. If someone does not want to enroll under Aadhaar then we will consider enrollment under National Population Register which is mandatory for all.”

According to the Times of India report, authorities could get stricter in the coming months. If a UID number is not proven six months after enrollment, then services could be terminated.

http://www.biometricupdate.com/201301/biometric-identification-now-mandatory-for-those-needing-revenue-department-services-in-new-delhi/

According to a SecureIDNews report from 2012, 93 out of 193 U.N member states were issuing e-passports at the time, with 21 additional countries ready to deploy the technology in the next 2 years. India is one of the latest to join this growing list.

http://www.biometricupdate.com/201305/plans-for-citizen-epassports-announced-in-india/