Nigeria’s Interswitch and the UK’s Becoz have signed an agreement to enable card technology for public commute without cash or paper ticket.
The project will cost £56 million.
Witnessing the signing, was the Foreign Secretary of the UK, Jeremy Hunt in Abuja. He compared the product to the UK’s, Oyster Card Transport system.
“We are establishing a major research hub in Lagos this year in order to bring together entrepreneurs and innovators; these are long term initiatives with benefits to both Nigeria and the UK”, he says.
The project’s implementation will be done by Nigerian tech entrepreneurs.
According to the divisional Chief Executive Officer, Interswitch, Akeem Lawal;
“We combine the payment technology with those unique technologies that we have done in partnership with a UK company and create a solution that will work on Danfo buses, blue buses, in ferries and in trains. The pilot programme will be done in Lagos and Abuja before going nationwide. The system will function entirely on solar energy.”