The chief executive officer of Systemspecs Limited, Mr. John Obaro has assessed the journey so far in the nation’s cashless policy, saying “Although we have not reached where we would love to be as a country, the truth is that there has been significant growth driven by the cashless initiative of the CBN. A lot has happened in the last four years of e-payment in the country.”
Taking a recent look at the journey so far, the chief promoter of Remita platform used by the federal government for its Treasury Single Account (TSA) said Nigeria still has a long way to go in replacing its cash-based economy with a cashless system, the apex bank is working with stakeholders to enthrone a culture of cashless economy through various initiatives this year.
He noted that lots of transactions are done online and people no longer carry cash in cartons and bags because they know that they can now transact electronically. “Yes, people still do a lot of withdrawals using their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards, and I do not see this as a true cashless practice. But I see the use of ATM cards declining in the near future.
According to him, before Remita came on board with the TSA project, CBN had actually written to the office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) to get an electronic payment solution to implement the TSA project, but the solution was not available as at then.
He said “It was two years later that government knew about Remita and invited us to a bidding process. Remita has made it possible for government to pay into diverse accounts from a single account. Now we have a platform that is making very complex electronic transactions very easy.
“Today, we are gradually shifting towards that vision, which is all about financial technology (FinTech). Now we are using technology to address financial issues and this is a big market for Nigeria.
Like the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), we see financial technology as what will redefine economies worldwide in the coming years and it will cut across many industries.
