…as CBN, NIBSS go silent 2 months after launch
Nigeria’s national domestic card scheme, which is being promoted as a significant move to strengthen the national payments system and deepen the usage of electronic platforms in the country, is coming off as a project that was not well thought before its promoters went public with it.
The scheme, a collaboration between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria InterBank Settlement Systems Plc (NIBSS), missed its 16 January 2023 target take-off date by 10 days before it was eventually unveiled by the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, in a virtual ceremony on 26 January.
Before that, the CBN and NIBSS had gone silent for three months after they first announced the national domestic card scheme in October 2022 and fixed 16 January as launch date. Both institutions remained silent after the scheme, christened AfriGO, missed its initial take-off date.
On 26 January when the scheme, termed the first Central Bank-led domestic scheme card scheme in Africa, was launched, Emefiele extolled its usefulness, saying it would provide more options for domestic consumers while also promoting the delivery of services in a more innovative, cost-effective and competitive manner.
“The scheme is important to plug in the gap that has remained in the economy since the introduction of the cashless policy, and will integrate the informal segment of our economy, reduce shadow banking, bring more Nigerians into the formal financial services with an attendant diversification of deposit portfolio which will further strengthen the stability of the banking industry,” Emefiele said.
The CBN governor noted that though the penetration of card payments in Nigeria had grown tremendously over the years, many Nigerians were still excluded. He said the challenges of financial inclusion in the country were the high cost of card services as a result of foreign exchange requirements of international card schemes, as well as the inability of existing card products to address local peculiarities of the Nigerian market.
He assured that the national domestic card would be accessible to all Nigerians and address most of the country’s local peculiarities, stating that it was not a quest to prevent international service providers from continuing to provide services in Nigeria but was aimed at domestic consumers whilst also promoting the delivery of services in a more innovative, cost-effective and competitive manner.
Aishah Ahmad, deputy governor, Financial System Stability at the CBN, said the national domestic card scheme would lead to the sovereignty of data, save cost on card transactions, reduce foreign exchange pressure and present new opportunities for the Nigerian economy.
Ahmad, who is also NIBSS chairman, said in her welcome remarks that the card scheme “heralds a new vista of opportunities for the card business, that several countries continue to recognise and leverage as they create their domestic card schemes to augment existing foreign payment card rails”.
She said the card scheme also provides an essential platform for further innovation to solve some of the most pressing issues around financial inclusion, SME payments and trade facilitation primarily, supporting the drive for a robust digital economy for the Nigerian market, the African continent and the world.
Ahmad explained that the name for the national domestic card scheme, AfriGO, was birthed in Nigeria with continental aspirations, where ‘AFRI’ means culture, ethnic diversity, bravery, innovation, and growth, while ‘GO’ symbolises progress, empowerment, inclusivity, future-forward, amongst others.
Premier Oiwoh, managing director of NIBSS, listed the security features of the AfriGO card scheme, including a smart chip, the CVV Code, the NQR embedded signatures, amongst others.
It is now two months since that launch and the fireplace has grown cold. Our checks show that neither the CBN nor the NIBSS has provided further communication on the Nigerian national domestic card scheme.
On the internet, the latest report on AfriGO as at 12:35pm on Tuesday, 28 March, was a BusinessDay report of 7 February 2023 titled “Afrigo: How the new domestic card by CBN will drive SME growth”.
There have been no reports of the CBN or commercial banks issuing the national domestic card to bank customers, and many Nigerians who spoke to The Nigerian Observer said they have not been signed up for any domestic card while some said they have not even heard about it.
