Why Nigerians will pay for NIMC’s multipurpose card

Peter Iwegbu, head of card management at the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), has affirmed that Nigerians will pay to access the new General Multipurpose Identity Card (GMPC) due to limited government revenue.

This was disclosed during the two-day event held in Lagos recently with publishers of online newspapers, which was themed “Building formidable bridges with the digital media ecosystem.”

According to Iwegbu, Bisoye Coker-Odusote, director general and chief executive officer of NIMC, decided to avoid repeating the mistake of producing free unclaimed physical identity cards.

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“We tried to review the entire project to find out what the problem was. First is that the government has no money to be able to produce this card and give it out for free. Second is that people must need the card so that when we produce it, they will pick it up,” he said.

He added that NIMC has produced more than two million cards in the past years, but many of them are still at the NIMC office because most people refuse to claim them.

Lanre Yusuf, director of information technology at NIMC, said the idea of a free national ID card has not gone well in the past years.

He described the new ID card as a post-paid identity card, meaning that individuals must have it before initiating a request.

“To get the new national ID card, Nigerians must pay, select a pickup location, and then collect their card from the chosen location. However, the government has implemented programs to make the card accessible to the less privileged Nigerians who cannot afford it but require it to access government support,” he said.

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In April 2024, NIMC announced plans to launch the General Multipurpose Identity Card (GMPC). During the event, it was unveiled that the card powered by AfriGO, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS) would be launched in a few weeks.

Yusuf affirmed that the new national ID card is a multipurpose card that can be used for identity verification, payments, and even government services across multiple Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).