Unified Payment Services To Manage National Electronic ID Card

Payments service provider Unified Payment Services Limited has announced it is partnering with Nigeria’s National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) for the processing in the payment application of the new National Electronic ID Card (e-ID).

Announcing the partnership, Unified Payment explained that “with the eID card, citizens will have the ability to deposit funds, receive social benefits, pay for goods and services at Merchant locations within and outside Nigeria as well as draw cash from ATMs around the world.

Under the processing arrangement, citizen’s identity data will be hosted and managed exclusively by NIMC while payment data will be hosted and managed by Nigerian banks and Unified Payments, a leading payment transaction processing company owned by Nigerian banks.”

Agada Apochi, Managing Director and CEO of Unified Payments, which is owned by a consortium of leading Nigerian banks, described the e-ID as necessary for Nigeria’s economic growth stating that the initiative “will no doubt help to drive financial inclusion as well as further stimulate economic activities in the country in line with the Vision 2020 agenda”.

Commenting on the partnership with Unified Payments, Director General and CEO of NIMC Chris Onyemenam said the payments provider was chosen as the pilot processor of the payment aspect of the card based on its exceptional track record.

“Being the first Processor in Nigeria certified to process EMV chip cards, the first to achieve the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) certification as well as its ownership by Nigeria banks, it only made logical sense for us to entrust them with securely processing the payment application in the National Identity Card”, he enthused.

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