NIGERIA- Plan is underway to improve the standard of the new National Identity Card so that it can serve as Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card anywhere there is MasterCard logo in the world.

The above development was disclosed by the Director of Technical Services of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Mr. Emmanuel Ogungbe, on Thursday in Abuja during a press briefing.

He said the commission had already signed an agreement with MasterCard, adding that it would also serve as travelling card within the West African region.

“As opposed to just being an ID card, the card is also a cash card. What that means is you can also use it the way you currently use your ATM card.

“So if you put money on the card, you can withdraw this money anywhere in the world.

“Two, it’s also a travel card. What that means is that very soon, especially within the West African sub-region, you can travel passport-free as long as you have this card with you.

“So this card has multi-purpose use and that is why we are calling it a general-multi-purpose card, it’s not just an ID card.”

According to him, all that a holder of the card needs to do is to present it at the point of entry of any country where it will be swiped.

Ogungbe said upon presentation of the card, the necessary information about the holder shall be displayed similarly to the ones on passport, while the country would allow entry.

He added that the new card was error-proof and would enhance the security of the country.

“We have a system called automated biometrics identification system in our data centre that checks information of newly registered people coming into the database against what we already have in the database.

“If there is a hit, that means that person was registered before and of course this means we will deny new registration.

“So, there is no way of beating that system for now; I’m very confident of that. That will ensure that you can only register once.

“What the bad elements do is to hide in a way that you won’t be able to capture them. But we are saying with this (ID) we know who they are and we will be able to very easily locate them,’’ he said.

According to him, if there is a crime and the police are able to lift finger prints from the crime scene and send to NIMC, the commission will be able to give the full details of the criminals.

He also said that the card would reduce incidences of bank frauds as fraudsters would be easily detected and apprehended.