The card aiming to end Nigeria's fraud problem

Nigeria has a bad reputation when it comes to fraud.

"Dear Friend" emails originating from the country - also known as 419 scams - are among the most notorious in the world, with statistics from Ultrascan AGI suggesting losses from such schemes totalled $12.7bn (£8.2bn) in 2013. And the number of scams is growing by 5% each year.

"Nigeria certainly has a problem," says Cormac Herley, principal researcher at Microsoft Research, who has looked in detail at 419 scams. "[The country has] become associated with a particular form of scam that's very visible and known to everyone who receives those emails."

However, identity fraud is also a serious problem.

Identity problems In May last year, 16 people were charged in the US for using stolen information to obtain money and goods and then shipping them to Nigeria. Those arrested, most of them Nigerian, were charged with taking over bank or stock brokerage accounts, removing all the money, and making purchases. They were eventually sentenced to seven years imprisonment. 

And it is not just foreigners who are targeted by such fraud. Nigeria's Inter-Bank Settlements Systems estimates the country's banks lost 159 billion naira ($800m; £515m) to electronic fraud between 2000 and 2013. Faced with its negative international reputation, and local banking losses, the Nigerian government is seeking to address the issue centrally.

 Last year, the National Electronic Identity (e-ID) Card was launched in collaboration with MasterCard, with President Goodluck Jonathan the first recipient. Ending impersonation The smart card's Match-On-Card technology matches a holder's fingerprint against a profile stored in the embedded chip.

The card is also a travel document, conforming to the same standards as international passports. It contains electronic identification information, as well as Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology that allows for document signing, non-repudiation and encryption.

The new card is "actually addressing the issue of multiple identities by some Nigerians," explains Mr Onyemenam.
"It is addressing the issue of stolen identity. It is helping security agencies verify and fish out who the real culprit is."
Aside from its identification features, the card offers can be used as a form of payment.
Separated from the other services by a firewall, the payments function uses MasterCard's prepaid technology and is chip and pin certified.
Daniel Monehin, division president for sub-Saharan Africa at MasterCard, says the fact the card has a computer chip embedded protects cardholders from fraud, and protects against the creation of counterfeit cards.
The rollout of the payments-enabled e-ID card will also go some way to addressing another of Nigeria's major issues: lack of access to banking.
Fully 70% of adult Nigerians do not have a formal bank account.
"By giving every Nigerian of 16 and older an identity card with payments functionality, the government can effectively eliminate financial exclusion in Nigeria, and help citizens to improve their livelihoods," says Mr Monehin.

 via BBC