With the launch of the National Domestic Card scheme, Afrigo, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it will be coming up with a deadline for the existing card schemes in the country afterwhich they will no longer be eligible for domestic transactions.
CBN said this at the unveiling of the Nigerian national domestic card scheme.
Thursday’s move, the apex bank, added is part of efforts to reshape the country’s payment landscape.
“The domestic card scheme is expected to strengthen the national payments system and deepen the usage of electronic platforms in Nigeria,” the CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele said at the virtual launch.
He maintained that the new scheme is set to provide more options for domestic consumers and promote the delivery of services in a more innovative, cost-effective, and competitive manner.
Emefiele is also assuring Nigerians that the move will bring more opportunities to integrate the informal segment of the country’s economy, reduce shadow banking and bring more people into formal financial services.
The apex bank chief lauded the Nigerian banking community for rising to the challenge of strengthening the national payments system through the implementation of a Domestic Card Scheme.
“This effort is not a quest to prevent international service providers from continuing to provide services in Nigeria,” he added.
According to him, the policy is targeted at providing more options for domestic consumers will also promote the delivery of services in a more innovative, cost-effective, and competitive way.
“CBN is committed to a robust, efficient, and safe national payments system and welcomes innovation from both domestic firms and foreign investors,” he said.
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Noting that the domestic card scheme avails the country “the sovereignty of our data” in addition to coming at a lower cost, Emefiele added that “at this time when foreign exchange challenges persist globally, it is important that we have this card to ensure that all card transactions, online transactions where you’re using cards will now effectively immediately begin to go on the Nigerian National Domestic system.
“At some point in the next few weeks, I’m sure that the CBN will come up with the cut-off. We will no longer pay dollars for those cards, for the charges on those cards.”
Noting that the domestic card scheme avails the country “the sovereignty of our data” in addition to coming at a lower cost, Emefiele added that “at this time when foreign exchange challenges persist globally, it is important that we have this card to ensure that all card transactions, online transactions where you’re using cards will now effectively immediately begin to go on the Nigerian National Domestic system.
“At some point in the next few weeks, I’m sure that the CBN will come up with the cut-off. We will no longer pay dollars for those cards, for the charges on those cards.”
