By Jimmy Jackson
The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to commence the roll out of multi-purpose Government-to-People (G2P) cards to students to enhanced access to loan and administration.
The Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr and Director-General of National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Abisoye Coker-Odusote alongside the Managing Director of Data Mining Company, Femi Akande signed the MoU on Friday in Abuja.
The National Identity Number (NIN)-enabled G2P card is payment enabled and allows students to access their upkeep loans directly without necessarily waiting for banks as they could use the card to access different electronic services including point of sales (POS), automated teller machine (ATM) and web payment among others.
Sawyerr, described the MoU as a groundbreaking event to drive financial inclusion, promote transparency and accountability through the deployment of Government-to-People Card.
While expressing the commitment of NELFUND management to the project, he explained that the MoU would open a new vista for Nigerian students to access loans seamlessly using multiple wallets as facilitated by the biometric-enabled card from NIMC.
According to him, NIMC has been instrumental to the success being recorded in the administration and disbursement of loans to students by providing essential identity verification services saying, “I’m impressed with the work NIMC is doing, without NIMC NELFUND literally cannot function.”
Director-General of NIMC, Abisoye Coker-Odusote explained that the biometric-enabled cards are parts of products from NIMC to drive digital and financial inclusion and ensure that every single beneficiary of government services (loans) have verifiable identity.
She added that the biometric-enabled cards have multiple wallets for students and could be used online and offline to access loans and other services.
Speaking further, the NIMC boss said the cards would also make it possible to track loans disbursement and ensure they are used for the purposes intended, noting that it would promote transparency, accountability and eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy.
“The biometric-enabled cards is unique in promoting digital and financial inclusion because of the layers of features in them. They cannot be forged or faked.
“They have features that make cash available in students wallets..the students can easily access their allowances, buy books and make transfers without waiting for banks. The cards operate online and offline.”
