The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) launched the Nigerian National Domestic Card Scheme on Thursday to enhance the country’s electronic payment system. The event, which took place virtually, featured remarks from the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele. He emphasized that the new card would help reduce operating costs, lower charges, and conserve foreign exchange in Nigeria.
During his address, Emefiele stated, “Ladies and gentlemen, at this time when foreign exchange challenges persist globally, it is important that I say that we have come up with this card to ensure that all online transactions will now, effective immediately, begin to go on the Nigerian National Domestic Card system.” He further clarified that all domestic transactions conducted in Nigeria would need to utilize the Nigerian domestic cards.
Emefiele reassured Nigerians that they could continue using existing payment cards for transactions. However, he noted that since charges incurred by foreign cards are billed in dollars, the CBN would no longer authorize dollar payments for these charges. He specified that dollar payments would only apply to transactions made with domestic or foreign cards outside Nigeria.
The CBN, in collaboration with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc and Nigerian banks, will work on segregating transactions to ensure that charges or fees are only applied to international transactions conducted with cards such as Visa or MasterCard. Emefiele highlighted the importance of this initiative, stating, “I thought it important for me to say so not because there’s any preference for the domestic card, but what is most important is that we do not have foreign exchange, and we will bar payment of charges for domestic transactions from the Nigerian foreign exchange market at some point in the very near future.”
Comments are closed for this story.