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e-Payment will Minimize Fraud – Obaro
John Obaro is managing director of SystemSpecs Limited, a thriving financial and human capital management software solutions company. He has had a distinguished IT management career and is regarded as one of the most respected personalities in the Nigerian IT industry. Obaro worked in the banking industry for 10 years before setting out to start up SystemsSpecs 18 years ago. He spoke to chike onwuegbuchi and funmi ilesanmi on issues in the e-payment space.
FG’ Directive on e-Payment
It was a very good move on the part of the government to embrace e-payment and that has given a good platform for the industry to grow, because government at the end of the day is the largest player. In the last one year, there have been experiences that move from extreme excitement to extreme frustration, so you have two clear groups in the industry today, those who are very excited about e-payment, and those who are very frustrated by e-payment.
The first challenge is that e-payment itself has not been properly defined, so you have people come up with anything different from a cheque leaf and call it e-payment. You have people put data on CDs and flash drives and send to their banks and call it e-payment. You have people send schedules to their banks and call it e-payment. You have people send attachments to e-mails, and send it to their banks and call it e-payment. Now, these clearly are not in anyway e-payment.
e-Payment is e-payment. e-Payment must be end to end electronic payment for transactions. The moment you have manually intervened, it is no longer e-payment. It is at the very best manual e-payment. Most of the people who have experienced frustration with “e-payment” are those who have been practicing moving schedules physically to the banks, they do not know what is happening to the payment, they send in diskettes of data manually to the banks, they do not know what is happening to the payment, they just wait. These people are bound to experience lots of frustration.
However, for true e-payment, organizations key in their transactions from the comfort of their offices themselves, it is transmitted to the banks, necessary accounts are debited and the counterparts credited. The organizations that sent these instructions are able to see on the screen of the computers on their desk the status of all instructions they have given. Therefore, any organization that cannot see their current and even historical transactions on the screen in front of them showing the status are not practicing e-payment.
In the last one year, we have some arms of government that are practicing e-payment and are enjoining the benefits and we have those who are struggling with manual processes.
Extent of MDAs Compliance with e-Payment
Let me put it this way, a number of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are doing true e-payment but a large number of them are still struggling with sending schedules to their banks. Part of the challenge is that a number of the MDAs probably did not get a proper understanding of what they were to do at the early stages; they just knew they were no longer allowed to write cheques. The next thing they did was to hand over their payment instructions to their banks in whatever form. So they just transferred the problem in an attempt not to flout government regulation and not knowing what next to do they just present cheques to banks or key in some things into a spreadsheet and send it by e-mail to their banks.
As the year started wearing on with the confusion and pressure on their operations, many of them started exploring better and more effective ways of addressing these issues and I can only see things getting better. Yes, there has been a move from fairly cumbersome ways of addressing issues into more efficient ways, especially as they see possibilities. Part of the initial challenge was that many people did not believe that these things were possible. They did not believe that it is possible to sit in your office, issue a debit instruction, your account is debited and your identified beneficiary will be credited. Many people did not believe it, did not understand it and it was therefore easier for them to just throw the schedules to the banks.
Directive on Cheque over N10 Million to go e-Payment
I think that is a very encouraging move from the Central Bank of Nigeria. I know it is inline with vision: 2020 of the federal government, which entails the economy to go electronic in terms of payments. Of course we have been advocating that, you no longer need a cheque leaf at all to carry out transactions. We have organizations today that carry out a good number of their transactions on Remita without touching cheque leaves. For now I would say in SystemSpecs for instance less than one to two percent of our transactions are issued on cheques. Why? We need to issue cash directly for some pressing transactions, other than that we are looking at a future where we do not need cheque leaf for anything, because if you want to pay a third party, you can press some buttons and the beneficiary gets credited.
The N10 million limit by the CBN, I feel is something that would encourage organizations to begin to look in the electronic direction.
My advice to organizations is that, they should avoid the temptation of having some transactions in the electronic form and another set of transactions in the traditional way of cheque writing because at the end of the day it may further compound their reconciliation challenges. You might as well seize the opportunity to move all your transactions to an e-payment platform so that you can have a full view of all your transactions.
I do not see the directive as a negative for any organization rather I see it as an opportunity for them to immediately go electronic. Really, what do you need? A laptop and an internet access is all that is needed to adopt electronic payment. I want to encourage organizations to see the CBN mandate as an opportunity to go fully electronic. The challenge is that most of the banks are thinking only of their individual banks, therefore they have solutions that their customers can use to carry out e-payments with them.
In real life, most organizations have multiple bank accounts, so you find the challenge of an organization that wants to perform true e-payment log into the website of bank A and perform its transactions, then log out to log into the website of bank B, learn to navigate through the website of bank B, the way bank B wants it. Then they log out and need to remember their password for bank C to log into their website. All of these create confusion in the mind of the corporates. That is where a solution like Remita comes in. Remita presents one front to the organization, one password assess and transmits the instruction of the organization to the respective banks. That makes life easier for the corporates. On ones screen for instance, you can see your balances across all banks; if you have accounts in seven banks, with Remita you can see your balances on each of the seven banks on a screen, including your gross total. From the same screen, you can issue payment instructions; you can pay people within the same bank or in any other bank without having accounts in any of these other banks.
You can pay beneficiaries in other banks even in microfinance banks and mortgage institutions. At the same time you are able to see the status of all your transactions, the instructions you gave, you are able to know the ones that have been successfully paid, the one that has one challenge or another and you can immediately address those challenges. Perhaps if the account number was wrong or you do not have sufficient funds, you are able to track all of that yourself.
Bankers understand this, a number of bank customers are also beginning to understand this and that is why I foresee a bright future for the industry.
Depriving Banks of Certain Revenues
It is only a bank that wants to be short sighted that will not embrace e-payment. e-Payment is actually what you may call a major efficiency platform for bankers. Take for instance under the manual system, you issue a cheque to someone, that person goes to his bank, he fills a teller form, he queues up before he can pay in the cheque. The cashier collects the cheque, pass it through some internal processes before it is keyed into their computer system. It then goes through clearing which will be monitored while going through the two to three days clearing. All of these takes resources from the bank, not just a cheque but you can imagine all the banking halls filled up with people who are trying to pay in their cheque leaves.
Whereas with an electronic payment platform, once banks have their IT infrastructure well in place, they just sit back and watch these transactions happen without manual interventions. You can see that this is a major efficiency platform for the banks. Apart from that, the risks of fraud get minimized because it is when you have a lot of manual human interventions that opportunities for fraud exist. With the electronic platform the bank gets more efficient and the chances of fraud are minimized. I believe the banks are the winners at the end of the day.
I do not see any forward looking bank opposing e-payment because they see it as a loss of revenue. They still continue to charge COT and other agreed charges with the banks.
Software Company of the Year Award
I must say it is a very special award to us at SystemSpecs. Special in the sense that in our 18 years of operation we have won different awards both nationally and internationally but this is the first time we have an award by our colleagues in the same industry, that is Nigeria Computer Society (NCS). When your colleagues in the same industry conduct a survey and come up with an award recognizing you, that gives a very exciting feeling. We feel humbled by the award and we feel challenged at the same time. Challenged in the sense that you have an award by people who know, by people who understand and you now have to remain on top of the game; you have to improve your standards and remember at all times that your products are a showcase for the industry. You therefore have to do everything to keep the integrity of the award at all times.
Areas of Operation
When we started at about 18 years ago, we partnered with a then UK firm now called Info and has actually been bought over by a US company. We partnered with the company for the deployment of Sun Systems, one of the most popular accounting software worldwide. We started representing them in Nigeria, we moved into oil and gas, manufacturing and other sectors of the economy. After a while, we then moved on to develop our solution for payroll and human resources. It has been a very interesting experience. A few years ago, we ventured into the e-payment space, we started out from saying when people finished running their payroll, they should be able to effect payments directly from their offices; and that was how we started Remita. On our stable today, we have Sun Systems from Info, we have Human Manager which is a payroll and human resource management solution and then we have Remita which is an electronic payment platform.
Mobile Money
People have defined it variously, it is the extent that you use a mobile phone to effect payment, people want to see that as mobile payment which is still part of the what we are saying. On Remita for instance, you can effect your approvals via your mobile phones so you can effect payments to vendors from the mobile phone. I also foresee a future for that even though for now we are focusing more on corporates but as time goes we will also be looking at individuals who would want to carry their mobile phones and it is as good as carrying cash in hand.
Future of e-Payment in Nigeria
I see a bright future for e-payment in Nigeria. What many people may not realize is that Nigeria is currently ahead in the area of corporate e-payment. Nigeria is currently ahead of quite a number of countries including a number of western nations. If we get it right the way we are doing it, it will become a very exportable product even to other countries. It increases the velocity of money that of course would immediately have an impact on our economic activities because with money moving around everybody gets a piece of the action.
By Oladapo Sofowora
December is a particularly vibrant and deeply meaningful month in Nigeria, imbued with a palpable sense of excitement and celebration that permeates the air. As daily life slows down, this festive season offers a welcome opportunity for relaxation and togetherness. Families and friends gather to create cherished memories, participating in a rich tapestry of cultural activities that showcase Nigeria’s diverse heritage.
The month is characterized by a colourful array of events, including theatrical plays, musical concerts, traditional festivals, operas, fashion shows, poetry readings, and various forms of performance arts, all reflecting the dynamic cultural expressions of Nigerian society.
As December unfolds, the excitement continues to build, with streets and homes becoming vibrant displays of holiday spirit. Elaborate decorations adorn every corner, featuring colourful Christmas ornaments, twinkling lights, and festive paraphernalia that evoke a sense of wonder and joy. Evening skies light up with breathtaking fireworks, illuminating the night and further enhancing the joyous mood of the season. Year-end Thanksgiving parties have become commonplace, offering spaces for loved ones to gather, share meals, and express gratitude for the blessings and experiences of the past year. This period also allows Nigerians to reconnect with family and friends, many of whom travel from various parts of the globe to partake in these significant celebrations.
As the year-end festivities for 2024 draw near, FirstBank has thoughtfully curated an exhilarating lineup of events under the DecemberIssaVybe program, aimed at enhancing the enjoyment of this festive season. A highlight of this initiative is the much-anticipated concert featuring The Cavemen, a celebrated musical duo. Which was held on Friday, December 27, 2024, at Muri Okunola Park, located along the bustling Lekki-Epe Expressway, the event brought Lagos to life with a captivating performance that seamlessly blends highlife, soul, and folk music. Attendees enjoyed an engaging experience filled with mesmerizing sounds for over an hour, keeping them on their feet and immersed in the rhythm.
The atmosphere at the concert was electrifying, drawing a diverse crowd of enthusiastic youth eager to experience The Cavemen’s unique interpretation of highlife music—a genre deeply rooted in Nigerian culture and characterized by its rich, rhythmic beats and soulful melodies. The concert also featured an impressive lineup of other notable artists, such as the popular act Ckay, who collectively contributed to a night filled with remarkable entertainment and unforgettable performances.
The stage witnessed a pulsation of energy as The Cavemen’s talented band propelled the evening forward, delivering an infectious performance marked by masterfully executed guitar riffs, powerful drumming, and enchanting vocals. Audiences found themselves wholly absorbed in the moment, as the music unites them in joy and celebration, showcasing the revitalization and redefinition of the highlife genre that The Cavemen have pioneered.
In addition to the music, the concert artfully integrates comedic performances, highlighting the vibrant and diverse creative entertainment scene in Africa. Acclaimed comedians took to the stage, drawing laughter and delight from the crowd, while emerging music also had their moment in the spotlight, receiving enthusiastic applause and encouragement from an appreciative audience.
Recognising the profound impact of December in nurturing relationships and spreading joy, FirstBank has actively engaged its First@arts initiative to launch the annual DecemberIssaVybe campaign. This initiative is meticulously crafted to inspire and empower individuals across Nigeria to create and experience exhilarating moments throughout this joyous season. By providing fully sponsored access to premium concerts, theatrical performances, shows, and festivals featuring some of the industry’s top entertainers, FirstBank aims to alleviate the financial burdens that often accompany festive celebrations.
In a time marked by economic uncertainty, FirstBank stands as a crucial support system for Nigerians wishing to celebrate without the weight of added financial stress. With a proud legacy spanning over 130 years, this esteemed financial institution has woven itself into the fabric of Nigerian life. FirstBank has long championed numerous festive concerts showcasing Africa’s music icons, including Kizz Daniel, Davido, Burna Boy, Asake, and Tiwa Savage, crafting unforgettable experiences for music aficionados across the nation.
The DecemberIssaVybe campaign encapsulates the essence of creating lasting memories during this festive season. It serves as a dynamic platform for both local and international audiences to immerse themselves in unique, culturally rich experiences tailored to the holiday spirit. Since its inception in 2018, the FirstBankIssaVybe campaign has quickly become a highly anticipated annual event, delighting participants with exhilarating moments designed to resonate and linger long after the celebrations are over.
Olayinka Ijabiyi, the Acting Group Head of Marketing & Corporate Communications at FirstBank, emphasized the institution’s unwavering commitment to crafting a ‘Wow December to Remember’ experience for individuals of all ages.
He stated, “FirstBank is devoted to facilitating memorable homecoming experiences this December through gatherings such as weddings, family reunions, and festive celebrations, ensuring that every moment spent together is cherished.” Through this commitment, FirstBank continues to play a pivotal role in the celebration of culture and community during this significant time of year.
By Aliyu Gaya
Corporate blackmail is fast becoming the fancy of some netizens, corporate bodies, individuals, especially fly-by-night persons who target the rich and their businesses for diverse reasons. It’s not restricted to Nigeria, though.
The likes of Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Leo Stan Ekeh, Segun Agbaje, Tony Elumelu, and corporates like GTCO (Guaranty Trust Holding Company), Zenith Bank, Zinox, Globacom, among others, have at one time or another faced a blizzard of blackmail. The blackmailers’ intents are multifarious: to make easy money (ransom), damage the reputation of their target, ruin an enterprise, or inflict emotional trauma on their victims.
In the past few years, several multinationals have left the country. On paper, some of the multinationals claim forex crunch, rising cost of doing business and in some cases, their inability to remit their profits out of the country to service loans in their home countries or elsewhere as reasons for exiting Nigeria, Africa’s largest market for all products and services.
But those who ever cared to investigate the cause of the unprecedented exodus of these multinationals would easily point to blackmail as the chief reason for the mass exit of these mega corporates as well as a major reason why other foreign investors were frustrated from investing in Nigeria. The Nigerian bureaucracy can blackmail you out of business by denying you all necessary niceties, documents and requirements that would enable you set forth or grow your enterprise.
How about this? In September 2023, when President Bola Tinubu attended the G20 Summit in India, one of his first assignments was a meeting with Mr. Prakash Hinduja, Chairman and CEO of the Hinduja Group of companies, a conglomerate with a total asset portfolio exceeding $100 billion. The Indian billionaire lauded Tinubu and pledged to invest in Nigeria only because of his confidence in the Nigerian president. But he did not fail to remind President Tinubu how he was frustrated years back when he attempted to invest in Nigeria.
His exact words: ”I have had paperwork stalled in Nigerian bureaucracy for over one year, especially in FCT. But I knew that you would be purpose-driven in this endeavour and God will help you to turn Nigeria’s rich promise into rich reality for all of its citizens.”
Any discerning mind would notice the rebirth of hope in an investor who had been frustrated out of Nigeria by Abuja bureaucracy. In case you don’t get it, Mr Hinduja was referring to another type of common blackmail in Nigeria. “If you don’t see us, you won’t get the support you need.” Plain bribery and corruption which runs in the civil service.
In the United States, a country with unapologetic capitalist culture, blackmail is considered a serious crime under federal law and every state law. Culprits can be jailed and/or punished with huge fines in some cases. The same applies in Europe and Asia where the blackmailer is neither spared nor pampered.
Nigeria has a panoply of laws including the Cybercrime Act to deal with corporate blackmailers. However, the laws are made weak because, in some cases, the legal processes are convoluted and drag leisurely, making the suspects exploit loopholes within the system to dodge conviction. The blackmailers are like the cunning fox. They know that reputational damage is a high risk for their victim; hence, they often drag the case in a court of law to keep it perpetually on the front burner of public discourse in the media.
But truth be told, these blackmailers are the real enemies of Nigeria and President Tinubu. For while Tinubu is making genuine efforts to woo investors to Nigeria, blackmailers are busy rubbishing existing investors and especially indigenous investors. If we don’t treat our indigenous investors well, how do we expect a foreigner to invest in our economy? This is the paradox and the real reason Tinubu should come hard on corporate blackmailers.
A few instances of corporate blackmail and embarrassment. Nigeria’s highly successful business honcho, Mike Adenuga, had his office brusquely raided in 2006 by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The raid and ‘arrest’ of Adenuga were widely exposed in the media. At the end, it turned out that Adenuga had nothing sleazy in his closet that the accusers could use to nail him in the court of law. But he was sufficiently terrified and blackmailed such that he had to go on temporary exile from Nigeria to Ghana to the UK.
Another Nigerian business success story, Aliko Dangote, has been in and out of blackmail, sometimes from competitors, career blackmailers who want a chunk of his money, or even public institutions who, rather than help his business empire to thrive and keep thriving, prefer to bring him down. The most recent of such serial blackmail is the running campaign to discredit his $20 billion refinery. First, they claimed it was non-existent, and that failed. They switched to, it can never take off, which also failed. They tried the fib that the refinery was producing low-quality products; this also failed. Then, there was that disingenuous yarn that he had no approval, no licence for the project, yet the same Federal Government acquired 7.5% of an unlicensed company shares with public fund? This, again, failed to fly. There were many more, but they all crashed, as does every lie.
Then, there was the failed but long-drawn corporate blackmail against Leo Stan Ekeh, the listless and gifted founder of the Zinox Group, a global conglomerate spanning ICT, e-commerce, real estate, pharmaceuticals, entertainment, and more. His case is such that pools tears in the eyes. A case of a fry threatening to swallow a barracuda. Several studies have identified envy, money (ransom), extreme competitiveness, desire to tarnish a reputation, a knack to hurt an enterprise and inflict emotional pain on the business owners as some of the drivers of corporate blackmail. In some cases, it may just be one of the factors named above. But in the case of Ekeh, it’s a combination of envy, extortion, and reputational damage.
The case of Ekeh is one that tasks your state of sanity. It got me thinking about how much premium Nigerians, nay Africans, place on their brightest and best, especially those who by sheer dint of hard work, tenacity, and courage to dare the odds, burrowed their way from the lowest nadir of their enterprise to the zenith of it.
Nigerian entrepreneurs like Ekeh and many others across the country built their businesses from scratch. They deserve praise for their industry and deserve to be protected from blackmail hawks. The various but failed attempts to link Ekeh and any of the companies associated with his name to unhealthy corporate governance smacks of desperation and a primitive show of disrespect for a man whose collateral is integrity. Any African who plays big in the Africa ICT marketplace knows that without integrity, you cannot have as much as a handshake with over 31 global brands like Microsoft, Apple, HP, Samsung, IBM, Cisco, Starlink, among others. Zinox Group does.
Every Nigerian government at national and sub-national level claims they are wooing foreign investors. But they forget that how Nigeria treats her indigenous investors will influence how foreign investors perceive the Nigerian market. You cannot expose your home-grown investors to the vagaries of blackmail and treachery and expect foreign investors to trust you. This is the task before Tinubu. He must cleanse the corporate ecosystem of both systemic and individual blackmailers.
Gaya, a Public Policy Analyst, writes from Kano
Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has announced plans to establish mobile courts at airports across the country to address the issue of unruly passengers.
This initiative aims to curb incidents of passengers attacking airline and airport staff or disrupting airport services due to flight delays and cancellations.
The decision was made following a stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos, where representatives from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET), and the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) discussed the rising cases of passenger misconduct.
The meeting also addressed extending operational hours at sunset airports to 10:00 p.m. to mitigate flight disruptions.
NCAA Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, emphasized the need for sensitization campaigns against unruly passenger behavior and the deployment of Aviation Security (AVSEC) officials to de-escalate aggression professionally.
The mobile courts will ensure that offenders are prosecuted and held accountable for their actions, reinforcing the commitment to maintaining decorum within Nigeria’s aviation industry
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