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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in collaboration with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) and the Bankers Committee yesterday disclosed plan to implement a National Domestic Card Scheme effective January 16, 2023.
Also, it was revealed that the central bank’s RT200 FX policy which aims to raise $200 billion from foreign exchange (FX) earnings from non-oil proceeds over the next three to five years, has continued to yield dividends as it has recorded $1.2 billion in repatriation, $870 million sold through the Investors and Exporters’ (I&E) window and N42 billion paid as rebate.
These were disclosed during a virtual press briefing at the end of a Bankers’ Committee meeting.
Also yesterday, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Colonel Hameed Ali (rtd), declared that the federal government’s move to ensure that the nation’s borders were secured was yielding positive results.
Speaking on the plan to launch a national domestic card scheme, the Chief Executive Officer, NIBSS, Mr. Premier Oiwoh, stated that the new initiative being birthed by the CBN, NIBSS and Bankers’ Committee would enhance financial inclusion and create solutions to improve card ecosystem innovation in Nigeria.
Oiwoh said: “The domestic card scheme is a scheme that has been the brainwork of the CBN and it is being deployed to improve the payments landscape across Nigeria.
“So, part of the proposition that this domestic card scheme will be creating is that it drives acceptance and efficiency, reduce operating costs of a card operation in the country and also the provision of unique, reliable services because other features or other products will be layered on this card. Uniquely, this card will be configured to address the unique ecosystem issues that we have to help improve payments across the nation.
“We also expect the card to provide affordable pricing, the charges will certainly be lower because it is expected to be charged for in naira as against foreign currency. We also expect more local contents; contents uniquely for the Nigerian landscape which will support micropayments and credits, e-government, identity management, transportation, the health sector and agriculture in terms of payments.
“We expect this to reduce the dependency on cash across the landscape and help promote the cashless initiative by the central bank.”
He added that the operational effectiveness of this card was expected to be robust and should drive a lot of innovation and validation, end-to-end visibility to improve fraud management, and a better dispute resolution process around the current card operating system.
