NIGERIA:Unified Payments Pioneers Processing of National eID Cards

SEPT 01,2014.

PRESS RELEASE

In further demonstration of its leadership role in the e-payment industry, Unified Payments is pleased to announce its pioneering role in processing the payment application in the new National Electronic ID Card (eID) being issued by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

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.

In his remark, Mr. Agada Apochi, Managing Director and CEO of Unified Payments commended NIMC for the bold step and the technological achievement, saying that “this 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”.

Barrister Chris ‘E Onyemenam, Director General and CEO of NIMC, said: “Unified Payments 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”.

Unified Payment Services Limited otherwise known as Unified Payments® is a card-neutral and option-neutral Payments Service Provider founded in 1997 and owned by a consortium of leading Nigerian banks. Unified Payments prides itself in Leadership & Innovations in Payments being the first Nigerian organization to (i) be licensed as Principal Member of a global payment scheme (ii) Acquire EMV transactions (iii) be certified as EMV 3PP Processor; and (iv) acquire and process transactions based on Near-Field-Communication (NFC) technology.

Unified Payments® operates as a shared infrastructure for the banking community in Nigeria and Payments Service Provider within and outside Nigeria, with a mission to be the most preferred e-payment service provider in Africa. Formerly known as ValuCard Nigeria Limited, the name of the Company was changed in 2012 to reflect its new business, following a successful transformation from a domestic card scheme to a provider of payment services supporting different payment options and schemes.

The major businesses of Unified Payments include (i) Processing (ii) Switching (iii) Acquiring (iii) Payment Terminal Service Provider (PTSP); and (v) Value-Added Services and Solutions.

About NIMC

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) was established by the NIMC Act No.23, 2007 as the primary legal, regulatory and institutional mechanism for implementing a reliable and sustainable national identity management system that will enable Nigerian citizens and legal residents assert their identity. The Act mandates the NIMC to create, own, operate and manage a national identity database, issue national identification numbers to registered individuals, provide identity authentication and verification services, issue multipurpose smartcards, integrate identity databases across government agencies and foster the orderly development of the identity sector in Nigeria. The Act also empowered the NIMC to collaborate with any public and or private sector organization to realize its objectives.