Nigeria is turning their biometric national ID into a debit card. It is their intention that biometrics will be required for all purchases by 2015. Their will be no cash transactions as they also plan on going to a cashless economy. All purchases by ID card, mobile phone or other means will use biometric verification and a person will not be able to purchase anything without a biometric ID. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the seventh most populous country in the world.
Revelation 13:16-17
Also it causes all, both small and
great, both rich and poor, both free and slave,to be marked on the
right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he
has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its
name.
National ID Cards Are Also Debit Cards
The latest in financial innovation is
coming from Nigeria--and it blessedly doesn't involve elaborate
Internet scams. Nigeria's government, instead, is teaming up with
MasterCard to run a pilot program which would turn the country's
national ID cards into debit cards.
MasterCard and the Nigerian National
Identity Management Commission made the government debit card
announcement at the World Economic Forum on Africa on Wednesday. 13
million combination government ID cards/debit cards will be rolled
out over the next year; Nigeria has a population of approximately 167
million. The ID cards, which contain demographic and biometric data
belonging to each Nigerian citizen encoded on a microchip, will be
linked to bank accounts. When the cards are used at stores or kiosks,
cashiers will be able to verify the buyer's identity using both the
regular photo identification and the biometric chip-encoded
information.
For Nigeria, which is undergoing an
economic boom fueled by new businesses and mobile phones, the worry
is that ethnic violence and omnipresent corruption could slow down
growth. Due to the tracking capabilities, security, and built-in
paper trail of cashless currency, the Nigerian government feels debit
card payments could be a solution. After the initial 13 million cards
are given to pilot testers, the government hopes to deploy 120
million ID cards/debit cards once the scheme proves workable.
“The initial rollout in Nigeria of 13
million MasterCard-branded National Identity Smart Cards with
electronic payment capability--followed by a nation-wide rollout of
potentially 120 million cards to all adult citizens--will allow
cardholders to deposit funds on the card, receive social benefits,
pay for goods and services, withdraw cash from all ATMs that accept
MasterCard, and engage in many other financial transactions that are
facilitated by electronic payments,” MasterCard's Michael Miebach
told Fast Company via email. “In addition to the various
functionalities of a Smart ID, the scheme will allow Nigerians, 70%
of whom currently having no back account, to participate in the
global economy.”
Nigeria's Access Bank has signed on to
initially issue the cards, with Unified Payments serving as the
payment processor. Other banks have agreed to issue the ID
cards/debit cards as well. Beyond making things easier for the
government, they also have the potential to cause a banking boom in
Nigeria by connecting the unbanked with bank accounts. Of note is the
fact that, because the Nigerian cards use chip-and-pin technology,
they are more sophisticated than American debit or credit cards.
While combination identification cards
and debit cards might seem like a privacy advocate's nightmare, some
experts feel they have amazing potential. David Wolman, author of The
End of Money, told Fast Company that “The reality is that combating
poverty means finding ways to get people access to basic financial
services and that can't really happen without money in electronic
form. It's not a panacea, obviously, and no one can predict if this
particular program will succeed or flop. But that doesn't change the
fact that services of this sort are desperately needed.”
According to World Bank statistics,
Nigeria has a massive 7.3% GDP growth rate--but 62.6% of the
population lives below the poverty line.
http://www.fastcompany.com/3009549/nigerias-futuristic-national-id-cards-are-also-debit-cards
