BIP: BoI pumps N1.1bn on local card production

To spike local manufacture of smart cards and reduce massive importation of same, the Bank of Industry (BoI) has supported the Backward Integration Policy (BIP) of the Federal Government by assisting domestic players with N1.1 billion.

Speaking during a facility tour of SecureID Limited in Lagos, Rasheed Olaoluwa, managing director, BoI, said “the move is targeted at making card solutions for logical data security, physical plant security and integrity processing standards easily accessible in the country to boost the industry, with a capacity to produce 100 million cards and capacity utilisation level of 70 percent.”

According to Olaoluwa, the bank is committed to the manufacturing sector as it remains a growth driver and has huge potential for job creation.

“Manufacturing in Nigeria is taking a new edge,” Olaoluwa said, saying “I am delighted at what I have seen today. SecureID Limited is the first integrated manufacturing company in Nigeria and Africa. “What we have witnessed today has also happened in Nnewi at Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Plant where cars are manufactured in the country, rather than just assembling the parts. We are witnessing a successful backward integration of activities in the card industry through local production of cards.”

Olaoluwa stressed that SecureID Limited had established capacity and smart manufacturing techniques, adding that “as a customer of our bank, we have supported the business and this shows that the facility has been effectively utilised.”

The BoI helmsman explained that the bank will continue to raise its stake in industries that enhance job creation, saying that the company, with improved capacity, could employ at least 350 Nigerians.

On her part, Kofo Akinkugbe, managing director, SecureID Limited, said “the company has the capacity and the quality of operational and administrative personnel to produce chip and PIN-based smartcards that support payments and biometric identification, verification and authentication purposes.”

According to Akinkugbe, the company’s local production of smart cards for the financial sector, telecommunications and public sector has reduced the level of imports and exposure to the foreign exchange market.

Local sourcing of raw materials and effective market analysis have assisted her firm in filling gaps discovered in the market, while giving it the capacity to churn out products that serve Nigeria and other West African markets, she said.

“This state-of-the-art smartcard manufacturing facility aids the local production of SIM cards for the telecoms industry, bank payment cards and high security polycarbonate identity cards for the private and public sectors.                                                                                     

“This great effort is in line with the nation’s vision of actualising local content production. SecureID provides turn-key solutions for the smartcard identity industry from project start, through design, manufacture and personalisation to final card packaging/fulfilment,” she said, adding that the company supports a wide range of card products such as EMV Smartcards, GSM SIM cards and Magnetic-stripe debit cards, among other cards.