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TSA Controversy an Unnecessary Distraction – Obaro

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Mr. John Obaro, managing director, Systemspecs
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Mr. John Obaro, managing director, Systemspecs, the Information Technology firm that manages the Treasury Single Account (TSA) being implemented by the federal government of Nigeria.
Obaro was at Beacon of ICT Awards 2016 held recently where he won Software personality of the Year.
 He took time out to speak on the controversy surrounding the TSA with selected journalists, chike onwuegbuchi was there.

The Unspoken Truth on TSA
TSA started very quietly and crept into the nation and by the time people woke up to realise the impact, they found out that very surprising that such a thing could happened. Today the government is in a position to know the total cash position at any point in time.
There was a time government had over 17,000 accounts in different banks that nobody even knew about all of them, so you now have a platform that can bring all of them together for government to say this is our cash position at this point in time.
Two, you are in a position to track all the payments going out of government, who moves what payments and who are the beneficiaries. In addition, everybody making payments to government you have data on the minute of such payment, you are able to keep track of everything on this platform.
Also in addition to that, you have a situation in the past were people will pretend to have made payment to government, and probably forged some receipts and get away with it, now it is no longer possible as every payment is verified online before service is provided. So, in terms of impact, this is a system that has really fundamentally changed many things. Well off-course, you will appreciate that to come in with a system in an environment like this, you do not expect everybody to clap for you, so that is the situation where we are in.
In addition to that many people don’t really understand what TSA is about, they don’t understand what is happening but there are also those people who know what you are doing and are determined to frustrate this TSA by frustrating the technology behind it why pretending to be supporting the noble course of TSA.

Government’s Savings with TSA
As at December 2015, over two trillion naira (N2,000 000 000 000)had come into the coffers of government.
And like our dear president said sometimes ago, in previous years at the end of year, somehow all these monies disappeared in one way or the other that nobody was unable to give proper account of it.
But now government knows they have over two trillion naira (N2,000 000 000) where you can decide how you want to genuinely use the money.
Also, before now all these funds were in commercial banks, government would go to commercial banks borrow money at 15% because they do not really know that these funds were there.
They just go to borrow at commercial banks and end up paying 15%. But now you have these monies in government coffers and you can imagine the type of savings that you are making not only because you don’t pay this kind of interest charges but because you now even have funds you can actually invest.

 The Data Generated from TSA
When the TSA project was to start, nobody even understood the scope and nobody could give any form of statistics on the data that would come, saying how many Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), what type of transaction would come from MDAs?
This was a contentious issue that was debated severally but with TSA now there is a lot of data flowing into government which now move to the next face; economic planning.
And now that you have these data, you can now begin to do a lot of economic planning with these data but unfortunately, unavoidable controversies of the last few months have been unnecessary because it is time to get down to real business and begin to use these data proactively for planning purposes.

Hosting TSA Data Outside the Country
When you talk about data hosting we very much believe in Nigeria and that is something that drives Systemspecs and all those who know who Systemspecs, recognize that we believe in Nigeria.
However, you need to also plan things properly; otherwise you will ride on a motion and crash when the chips are down.
In the first place when we started the TSA project, we did not have data centres in Nigeria. Now, yes, we have data centres in Nigeria and we have a work plan with the CBN that by the end of 2016, this things would have been migrated locally. What we don’t want is a situation where we just move abruptly and then crash the main system.

Cost Effective Way to Transfer TSA Hosting Back to Nigeria
Part of the challenge we have even with the local hosting is reliability and security. Those two things are the main drivers for why organizations host abroad today. Now the infrastructures are being developed locally to be able to develop these two major areas of concerns.
The third area of concern is cost. Cost is still an issue. The figure you get from the Nigeria providers are much significantly higher than what you get abroad.
Having said that, I believe working with government as they are doing, we would get the support to be able to address these concerns significantly such that asking people to host locally will not just be an emotional argument or economic argument but a compelling need.

Challenges
As we speak for instance, you are aware of the controversies on the TSA project, very avoidable controversies over a one percent charge. When this one percent was discussed, nobody had an idea of the scope, no data was available, it was Remita that brought these data to the fore and were now able to see some huge sums and then there came the question that these figures are high. And then we said let’s renegotiate now that we have some data.
 Our first letter that we are open to renegotiation was dated September 16, 2015. Instead of focusing on renegotiating a lot of noise eventually came up that one percent is too high.
Meanwhile, incidentally I just came back for Glasglow where I was given an award by the Africa Scotland forum recognising the kind of thing we are doing in Nigeria. The interesting thing is that when I got to the airport, the cab that took me had a bold sign on it; “for this payment channels a convenient charge of 5% be added.”
So, 5% is not an unusual figure in this industry. Here we are talking of 1% and we say we are open to renegotiation and then a lot of avoidable controversies is being made out of that. I want to believe that there is a lot of mischievous going on and one would then expect someone in a position to close this matter and focus on the real issues of benefits from the platform.

Trust in the system
I need to be honest that we were taking by surprise.  This is because the worst that we thought would happened was that someone who wake up one day and say he does not want TSA but the beat about saying that there is fraud and abuse of the platform, that was a bit heavy and was sudden on us because for those who know Systemspecs one thing that drives us is our ethics.
The person you may call the doyen of ethics in Nigeria today Dr, Christopher Kolade is our chairman and has been our chairman for nine years.  Some years ago, he resigned from all the other companies that he is involved with and he remain only with Systemspec, which should tell you something about the kind of values that we hold. So, for somebody to wake up and beginning to throw those kind of distractive words were demoralizing but soon we will come out of it as we understood these are people who want to bring down the TSA project and that we should not cooperate with them to make it happen.
 And that is why not many people know we have been doing these collections without charging since all these controversies started.
Not only did we refund the fees from March last year, but since late October, all the collections on the platform, have not been charged. We are still waiting for government to close this conversation on the fee. The easiest thing for us to have done is to have stopped collecting that would have created an unnecessary crisis but we are collecting and waiting for some matured conversation to close that.

 


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FG Declares Admissions outside CAPS Illegal

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Federal government has declared that any admission into tertiary institutions conducted outside the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS), will be deemed illegal.

FG Declares Admissions outside CAPS Illegal

Dr Tunji Alausa, minister of Education, gave the directive in Abuja on Tuesday at the 2025 policy meeting of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

Alausa, therefore, warned universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education across the country against illegal admission.

He said institutions and individuals involved in such practices would be prosecuted and severely sanctioned.

“Any admission conducted outside CAPS, regardless of its intentions, is illegal.

“Both institutions and the candidates involved in such practices will be held accountable.

“Sanctions may include withdrawal of institutional assets and prosecution of culpable officers or governing council members,” he said.

CAPS, introduced in 2017, automates the admission process to eliminate human interference and administrative bottlenecks.

Alausa, however, reiterated the government’s commitment to strengthen transparency, fairness, and accountability in the nation’s tertiary education system.

He explained that while the responsibility for initiating admissions rests with the academic boards of each institution, JAMB, as a statutory regulatory body is mandated to oversee and regulate the process to ensure fairness and equity.

The Minister urged vice-chancellors, rectors, provosts, and governing councils to intensify oversight functions to prevent unauthorised practices.

He assured that the Ministry would monitor compliance closely in collaboration with JAMB.

The minister also reaffirmed the policy mandating integration of the National Identification Number (NIN) into the JAMB registration process.

“The NIN requirement has proven vital in safeguarding the integrity of our admission system by curbing identity fraud and multiple registrations.

“Any abuse of the NIN system will be identified and punished,” he said.

He highlighted the need for data-driven policies in the admission processes.

The Minister also presented statistics showing a mismatch between available admission quotas and actual student intake across many programmes, especially in agriculture, education, engineering, and the health sciences.

“We have capacity, but we are not admitting enough students.

“We need to start closing the gap, so that more children can access tertiary education,” he said.

He also criticised the proliferation of underutilised institutions, revealing that over 120 universities in Nigeria received fewer than 50 applications in the current admission cycle.

“The problem is not about access, it’s about alignment and capacity.

“We don’t need to open new tertiary institutions in every ward. Instead, we must expand and strengthen the capacity of existing ones,” he said.

On his part, Sen. Shuaib Salisu, chairman, Senate Committee on ICT and Cybersecurity,  called for stricter sanctions against institutions and administrators who undermine Nigeria’s admission process.

Salisu proposed the criminalisation of fraudulent admission practices.

He also warned institutions that exploit loopholes in the admissions system, allowing students to unknowingly pursue flawed admissions for years to desist from such practices.

He assured that the Senate Committee would explore legislation to criminalise such fraudulent practices, holding admission officers and institutional management accountable.

Salisu also called for an inclusive education system that drives peace and economic growth.


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BRICS Leaders Seek Inclusive Access to AI

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To support a constructive debate towards a balanced artificial intelligence (AI) approach, the BRICS leaders have agreed on a set of guidelines to foster responsible development, deployment and use of AI technologies for sustainable development and inclusive growth.

The leaders of the BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – published a joint statement calling for a global governance framework for AI that is inclusive, representative and rooted in the principles of sovereignty, development and ethical responsibility.

The guidelines, which strictly refer to the use of AI in the non-military domain, should be applied through either domestic or applicable international frameworks, as well as through the development of interoperable standards and protocols, in inclusive, transparent and consensus-based processes, the statement reads.

BRICS is a political and diplomatic coordination forum for countries from the Global South. This year’s theme was “Strengthening global south cooperation for more inclusive and sustainable governance”.

The BRICS leaders’ statement positions AI as a transformative force for sustainable development and innovation, while also warning against uncoordinated governance models that could deepen global inequities, marginalise developing nations and fracture multilateralism.

It emphasises that AI governance should be anchored in the United Nations system to ensure inclusivity and legitimacy.

The BRICS countries warn against a fragmented regulatory landscape, advocating for co-ordinated multilateralism that includes the voices of developing countries – particularly from the Global South.

BRICS leaders reaffirmed their support for Digital sovereignty, saying each country must retain the right to shape AI policy and technology in line with its own development goals and legal frameworks. This includes capacity-building, data governance and technological autonomy.

“We firmly support the right of all countries to harness the benefits of the digital economy… to develop capacities in AI research, foster technological autonomy and innovation, ensure data protection, and promote their own digital economy,” the statement reads.

A major theme in the document is the need for fair, equitable and inclusive access to AI technologies. The BRICS leaders stress that all countries – regardless of economic standing – must be able to access and benefit from AI.

The group also called for global co-operation in building data governance frameworks that allow developing countries secure and equitable access to data, with full respect for privacy, intellectual property rights and national laws. This ties into support for open science, open innovation and open-source AI models that can fuel local innovation ecosystems.

On intellectual property, the statement advocates for a balance between proprietary rights and public interest to prevent exploitative data practices and ensure transparency in AI model development and deployment.

The BRICS countries voiced concern over algorithmic bias and the exclusion of underrepresented cultures and languages in AI datasets and models.

They called for ethical, transparent and accountable AI development that reflects cultural, demographic and linguistic diversity.

They also endorsed UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and called for international co-operation to develop inclusive datasets, tools to flag misinformation and mechanisms to mitigate bias – especially against vulnerable groups like women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities.

The BRICS nations stressed the importance of using AI as a tool for sustainable development, citing sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, education, energy and environmental conservation as priority areas.

They urged that AI development must be environmentally responsible, minimising carbon emissions and e-waste.

The potential of AI to enhance productivity and job creation was also recognised, as well as the risks of job displacement and exploitation. The statement calls for policies that safeguard worker rights, ensure compatibility between AI and human capabilities, and promote decent work in the digital economy.

“It is imperative to safeguard the rights and wellbeing of all workers, particularly those directly affected by the digital transformation… including generative AI,” the statement says.

The BRICS statement ends with a commitment to intensify co-ordination on AI governance and share the guidelines across international platforms. It extends an open invitation to other developing countries to contribute to and refine the emerging global framework for AI.

“We welcome contributions to further develop these guidelines, particularly from other developing countries, and will remain open to revisiting them.”


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Tech-driven Solutions Receive Commendation @ Maiden Insurance Week Hackathon

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Mrs Yetunde Ilori, President of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), has commended the innovative and technology-driven solutions presented during the institute’s maiden Insurance Week Hackathon competition.

Ilori gave the commendation after the completion of the competition on Thursday in Lagos, held at the College of Insurance and Financial Management in Asese, Ogun, as part of the Insurance Week organised by the CIIN.

She described the solutions as crucial to the industry’s transformation and relevance in the digital age. “This shows that the future is bright for the Nigerian insurance industry.

We are transforming as an industry, and digital innovation is at the heart of that transformation,” Ilori said. She noted that 19 teams initially applied for the competition, but only six were shortlisted.

The competition, which targeted young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 29, engaged six finalist teams over a fourweek intensive innovation process, culminating in a demo day on Wednesday in Lagos.

The hackathon focused on real-world challenges in the sector, such as inclusive insurance, fraud detection, risk management, and improving customer experience.

It was designed to cultivate the next generation of insurance innovators, deepen insurance awareness, and promote financial literacy among Nigerians.

The teams that participated in the final stage of the competition were: Ifokanbale, Insurbridge, Insurvate, Team Aegis, Team Phoenix, and The Assured Team. Team Aegis developed “Hustle Guard,” a microinsurance solution for tricycle drivers covering health, life, and income, in an effort to demystify micro insurance in Nigeria.

The Assured Team presented “Kolo Plus by Card,” an unstructured savings plan with payment and interest features tailored to low-income earners. Team Insurbridge created “Smarter Claims,” a solution aimed at improving the insurance claims process.

Team Phoenix introduced “HerShield,” a solution focused on empowering women and building trust in the insurance sector. The Assured Team also developed additional ideas to drive insurance penetration in underserved and informal communities.

After an engaging pitch session before a panel of judges, Team Insurvate emerged as the overall winner with its solution, “Claim Central”, an end-to-end digital platform designed to streamline the insurance claims process from policyholders to insurers.

Team Aegis secured second place, while Team Phoenix came in third. The panel of judges included financial sector experts such as Norah Igwe, Tunji Andrews, Diana Mulili, Sakeenat Bakare, Ibraheem Babalola, and Prince Adeshina Adeyemi-Doro.

Also speaking, Mr Eddie Efekoha, Chairman of the Insurance Week, said the hackathon demonstrated a conscious effort to explore how technology can help distribute insurance products to all parts of the country.

“We believe this initiative will spark more interest among the youth to engage with insurance, not just as consumers but as creators and innovators,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of the winning team, Mr Odunayo Ojeremi, leader of Team Insurvate, described the competition as highly competitive and rewarding. “We are excited and grateful for the opportunity.

“We didn’t expect to win, but we are glad our solution was recognised. We hope to improve ‘Claim Central’ and make it a platform that ensures seamless claims processing,” he said.


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