The Nigerian apex bank, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) have collaborated to introduce a national card scheme named AfriGo.
The apex bank muted the idea of a national card scheme at a Bankers’ Committee press briefing in October 2022.
At the launch yesterday, the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, announced that the card will work like other international payment cards, with the goal of increasing financial inclusion in the country and decreasing reliance on foreign cards.
He stated that with the introduction of the AfriGo card, Nigeria has joined nations such as China, Russia, Turkey, and India who also have their own local cards. He emphasized that the use of these local cards will not prohibit the usage of international cards but will provide more choices for Nigerians.
“At this time when foreign exchange challenges persist globally, it is important for me to say that we have come up with this card to ensure that all online card transactions will now, effective immediately, begin to go on the Nigerian national domestic system,” Emefiele added.
“NIBSS and CBN will work together to make sure foreign exchange is charged for only international transactions made on Visa and Mastercards as we have it now. This is so because many of the cards we use currently charge in foreign currency. However, with the launch of the national domestic card, all domestic transactions are to be carried out on the national domestic card scheme,” he added.
“And we will ban payment of charges for domestic transactions from the Nigerian foreign exchange market at some point in very near future,” Emefiele said.
Mr Emefiele stated that the AfriGo card has the potential to integrate the informal economy into the financial system. He added that this will also decrease the expense of producing cards for Nigerian banks and decrease the requirement for foreign currency to obtain foreign cards.
The Deputy Governor of CBN and Chairman of NIBSS, Aisha Ahmad, also highlighted the benefits that Nigeria will gain from the AfriGo card. She stated that the implementation of the National Domestic Card Scheme has the potential to bring about improved transaction security, better pricing opportunities, decreased demand for foreign currency, reduced pressure on the Naira, locally relevant partnerships and offerings, and the development of local skills in the card and payment space.
“Other advantages include a boost to financial inclusion, value retention, flexible and innovative scale, and a source of national pride.” She added that based on the global card ownership statistics report, the Nigerian adult population owns about 32 per cent and three per cent of Debit & Credit cards.
“This ranks Nigeria as the 75th in the world in debit card to population ratio and 114th in the world in credit card to population ratio.
“Nigeria has a low card-to-population ratio when it is benchmarked globally, and this has a major impact on the government’s drive to aggressively boost financial inclusion.”
AfriGo card was developed by AfriGopay Financial Services Limited, an affiliate of NIBSS and licensed by the CBN. The Company is responsible for deploying and managing the National Domestic Card Scheme for Nigeria.
