Nigeria’s central bank has launched a domestic card scheme, AfriGo, to rival foreign cards like Mastercard and Visa, hoping to enhance its drive to make Africa’s biggest economy a cashless society and save the country foreign transaction fees.
The announcement by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele follows the bank’s decision last year to phase out old higher denomination bank notes.
During a virtual launch of the AfriGo card scheme, Efimele said that although penetration of card payments in the country had grown over the years, many citizens are still excluded.
“The challenges that have limited the inclusion of Nigerians include the high cost of card services as a result of foreign exchange requirements of international card schemes and the fact that existing card products do not address local peculiarities of the country’s market,” governor Godwin Emefiele.
Emefiele said the West African country was joining China, Russia, India and Turkey in launching a domestic card scheme. AfriGo is owned by CBN and Nigerian banks.
The operations of international card service providers like Mastercard and Visa would not end, he said, as AfriGo is meant to provide more options for domestic consumers in a “cost-effective and competitive manner”.
Africa’s biggest economy has more than 200 million people, and the majority still use cash because they live in rural areas where there are no banks.
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