Google to Empower Nigeria Media With Election Reporting Tool

AS PART of its plan to ensure that the 2015 general election becomes a success, Google Nigeria said that it will empower Nigerian journalist with the required ICT^ tools to that will enable them to report the elections credibly.

The one day, workshop with the theme: data Tools for Election reporting is expected to avail journalist with the online tools for elections story telling.

Communications and Public Affairs Manager, Anglophone West Africa, Google, Mr. Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade said that in the last decade, social media and online journalism have played an important role in helping to build stable democracies resulting from informed voting.

He noted that as more people get online, this impact grows saying that the weeks leading to the Nigerian 2015 elections present great opportunities for media people to innovate on their story telling abilities through the use of online tools and social media.

“The Google for Elections workshop is a one-day, hands-on Certificate program focused on using Social Media tools, Visualisation and Citizen Reporting tools in 'unearthing' and telling elections-based stories. Participants will learn to use online tools like Fusion Tables, Polls, Trends and Tables to result and develop stories”, he said.

He added: “This program is ideal for editors, journalists, social media/digital reporters interested in becoming proficient in learning to leverage online/digital tools for better elections reporting.”

Kola-Ogunlade said that the training, which comes up Friday, 16, 2015 is for the first 100 journalist who register http://goo.gl/tjVwM3 adding that upon completion, participants will have the knowledge and tools necessary to apply their new skill set immediately and will also be issued with certificates from the Google Media Academy.

Shun Substandard Mobile Phones, Experts Warn Consumers

The ICT revolution kicked off a lot of business opportunities in the country making the Nigeria market to be referred to as the largest in Africa. Unfortunately, it opened up the nation to all forms of dubious business activities; one of such is the thriving trade of fake and substandard mobile phones.

THE MOBILE phone industry growth in Nigeria, which was kicked off following the revolution of the ICT opened the country to several business opportunity benefiting everyone but the nation is unfortunately likely to pay for it unless some key regulation ideas are urgently addressed.

One of such is the volume of unregistered mobile phones that are brought into the country by brief case carrying mobile phone dealers and mobile manufacturers who are taking advantage of the corruption in the Nigerian society.

Recently, a Chinese man identified as Lin Tian Huan, was arrested at the popular Computer village, home of ICT products in the country by the task force of the Phone and Allied Products' Dealers Association of Nigeria, PAPDAN, an association of traders in the computer village for being in possession of 10,000 substandard mobile phones.

He was found with fake and substandard mobile phones which passed for Nokia and Samsung brands.

Upon questioning by the police at the Computer Village, Huan said he illegally imported over 10,000 pieces of different models of mobile phones products into the country.

Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, recently sealed a Chinese warehouse stocked with suspected substandard phones during its enforcement exercise in Ikeja.

SON discovered that the warehouse had mobile phones that were not registered with it and could not be linked with neither registered manufacturer nor importer.

According to the director-general of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON,  Dr. Joseph Odumodu, more than 80 percent of the mobile phones and other related computer accessories at the market are not genuine.

In China, where most of the fake and substandard mobile phones were said to originate, a mobile phone recently exploded and caught fire in a bus.

Reported by the Guardian UK, CCTV footage from the bus in Nanchong city, in South-West China, showed the phone battery exploded in its owner's hand and caught fire. The incident happened as the passenger was changing her phone batteries.

The Daily Mail UK also reported that a shop worker died after his mobile phone exploded, severing a major artery in his neck.

It was believed that the 20-year-old man just finished charging the phone’s battery before placing it in his breast pocket. Alarmingly, local reports claimed the incident was the ninth recorded mobile phone explosion in China since 2002. 

In June 2007, a welder Xiao Jinpeng, 22, died from chest wounds when his mobile phone exploded while at work at a mill.

Although there are no record yet of mobile phones exploding and killing people yet the large number of mobiles that enter the country including the fairly used ones worries stakeholders.
And indeed, that worries the NCC too compelling it host on its website warning on the danger of fake or substandard mobile phones saying that beyond technical issues, it also has its health hazard.

The NCC said that before mobile phones are sold in each market all models of genuine phones are tested to ensure they are safe for users, including testing to make sure they meet national and international standards for exposure to radiofrequency emissions.

All mobile phone batteries and chargers must undergo the same stringent testing to ensure they meet all levels of safety. Genuine mobile phone batteries are tested under intense conditions to ensure they can handle varying conditions of use.

Counterfeit and substandard mobile phones, batteries and chargers on the other hand are not subject to such comprehensive testing and therefore the safety of fake phones cannot be verified or guaranteed.

According to the Commission, around the world, there are incidents where mobile phone batteries have exploded and injured people. Upon investigation these incidents have been linked to the use of counterfeit or sub-standard batteries. Counterfeit and some third party manufactured batteries do not meet all of the safety requirements that prevent these incidents. Non-genuine batteries may not have safety circuits which regulate voltage, current and heat within the battery, without these the battery can short circuit and explode or heat up and burn people.

The NCC stated that fake phones, batteries and chargers are made from cheap, substandard components and may contain chemicals, which are dangerous to the environment and human health.

It added that the cheap and low quality components used to manufacture fake phones and accessories are untested, uncertified and can be a safety hazard for users saying that the substandard components in fake phones often malfunction with the potential to injure users and damage property.

It said further that fake phones can also contain dangerous chemicals and metals, such as lead and mercury noting that these are associated with a range of adverse health effects.

Fake phones, the NCC observed have been known to cause  a drain on mobile phone networks thereby reducing network speed and reception for users stressing that some of them have unpredictably short lives.

The Commission said that they are not registered or certified to operate on cellular networks because they are produced from cheap and substandard components that can damage service in a network area adding that testing has shown that counterfeit and substandard phones experience high levels of dropped calls and failed connections.

Recently, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, said that the task of checking the in flock of fake and standard mobile phones into the country was beyond its power because several loopholes in the nation’s boarder make it possible for all kinds of phones to come into the country.

According to the Secretary General of the Mobile Manufacturers Forum, MMF, Mr. Michael Milligan some of the tell tale signs of counterfeit mobile phone products are  the price and the poor quality saying consumers should look for inaccurate printing, misspelled words, crooked label placement and signs of defective workmanship.

He added that they do not come with warranty saying that all genuine mobile phone manufacturers offer a limited warranty that covers the handset, software and accessories.

He said:“Look out for words like ‘Replacement battery for…’ or ‘Charger compatible with…’.. Genuine products tend to only state which model handset the product is for” saying that to avoid fakes, consumers should always buy mobile phone products made by registered manufacturers and sold by trusted retailers.

“If you are looking to replace a battery or charger then you should refer to the original manufacturer’s information to make sure you purchase the appropriate battery or charger for your model of phone,” Milligan said.

According to the International Telecommunications Union, ITU, One out of every five mobile phones sold in the world are illegal or unlicensed copycats saying that the Middle East and Africa which include Nigeria, Turkey, Egypt, Iran account for 38.2 million units.

Also shipments of gray-market China-made mobile phones reached their peak in 2011 with a total of 250.4 million according to IHS iSuppli report.

On the effects, the ITU  said that it results to loss of revenue due to non-payment of customs duties and sales taxes saying that the danger it posses to public security is the absence of valid IMEI or “no IMEI” number which are potentially attractive for criminal activity and terrorism.

Also on security and privacy issues, ITU said in cases of theft or stolen phone, it is difficult to track the phone with invalid IMEI or “no IMEI” number while the operator experiences lowering of QoS of mobile telecommunication services such as loss in voice and data capacities, data transmit speeds, reduced coverage

DEVALUED NAIRA: Telecoms Services, Product May Cost More

AS mixed reactions trail the devaluation of the Naira last Tuesday, the ICT sector, a money spinner is tipped to experience some hiccups when some key elements in the industry play, and the results suggests a possible increase in cost of services and devices, writes Isaiah Erhiawarien.

Reactions from stakeholders in the ICT industry suggestions that Nigerians may need to pay for telecoms services next year when the effect of the devalued Naira begins to affect   the economy.

Last Tuesday, the Naira was devalued by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, by N13, from N155 to N168 to one dollar in order to strengthen the economy. The implication is that while more Naira will be need to buy dollar for import, local goods that are produced using imported raw materials will become expensive meaning that if earnings from income of Nigerians do not increase, they have to look more sources of income to survive.

Following the telecoms revolution over a decade ago, which kicked the national economy into a new dimension; the economy and the life of Nigerians now depend heavily on telecoms, and more recently the mobile money bug which is gradually eating deeper into social and economic fabric of national life.

Investigations show that the economy is now heavily depending on telecoms infrastructure such as telecoms mast and devices such as phones, tablets, PCs, POS gadgets as well as recharge cards.

In the last ten years, since the explosion of the telecoms growth, which is widely celebrated at telecoms forum, no efforts so far has been made to produce the devices locally, with exception of the recharge card.

For instance, the telecoms infrastructure companies, most them which are foreign required huge dollar to import every materials that they need to build telecoms mast, a very critical infrastructure for the effective delivery of telecoms services.

Recent development indicated that the mobile telephone operators opted for infrastructure sharing due to the high cost deployment of telecoms mast across the country to meet the growing depending of expanding subscriber’s base that all operators are experiencing.

Investigations revealed that telecoms operators in Nigeria currently have close 30, 000 base stations or telecom towers scattered all over the country which are build by local and foreign companies with materials that are imported a huge cost and high customers charges, and some cases the foreign companies have expatriate that are paid in dollars.

Speaking the National Mirror, the President of the Association Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, ATCON, Engr. Lanre Ajayi said that the cost of the procurement of telecoms equipment and delivery of services by the telecos will go up saying that the impact of the increased cost will eventually be transferred to the final consumer.

His fears borders on the fact the telecoms industry is largely depended on import, even including personals. For instance, there are call centres that are currently owned by foreigners.

Reacting to the new Naira devaluation policy, a recharge card dealer, Biodun Ishola  noted that some may take advantage of the new policy to add a few kobo to it saying that presently some sellers are adding N10.00 to even the value of the N100, 200, even N500 denomination card.

Ishola who also runs a blog: http://rechargecardsmillionaires.blogspot.com/ aid that the virtual top may for sometime make it impossible for those who trade on the virtual platform to add money to it.

He dismissed fears about the possibility of the new CBN policy affecting the unit cost of producing a recharge card stating that if it does affect it will be so minimal not to necessitate an increase in the price of the airtime voucher.

Although it is not yet clear if operators may want to make a case for tariff increase bearing in mind the current trend at the nations seaport as well as the increasing electricity power failure across the country, which has made operators to be investing huge money in other power source, it is however remains unclear if the regulatory body, the Nigerian Communications Commission will grant such request.

The operators and the NCC as at the time of writing report are yet to make statement on how the new policy will affect their businesses.

However, the President of the Nigerian Internet Group, NIG, Engr. Bayo Banjo said that there will be a sense of insecurity of investment from investors adding that they will be nervous in bringing their fund into the economy.

He however said that the operators may not feel much of the impact of the devaluation of the Naira on their equipment since what they sell is services.

The telecos has however of recent been experiencing dwindling returns on their investment thereby resulting to the sale of towers by operators.

Last week, Airtel signed an agreement to sell 4,000 of its towers to American Tower Company, ATC so as to    Etisalat Nigeria has also sold  2,136 of its towers to IHS Holding Limited and MTN Nigeria is also in the league of tower seller with its figure standing at about 9,183.

A major reason for this is huge cost building and managing these towers.

Statistics indicated that the cost of building one mobile phone tower in Nigeria is about $150,000-$200,000.

 The telecoms industry has for long been groaning under the huge burden of the increasing cost of doing business in Nigeria.

For instance, in a memorandum submitted by ATCON to the Senate House Committee on Communication, the association highlighted that the industry was yet find a conducive ground to operate.

ATCON in the MO expressed surprise that the destruction of telecoms infrastructure remains a regular occurrence for all telecomm operators in Nigeria adding that  it costs about N24, 750,000 to install a single base station together with its tower, special antennas and two generators to power the station.

On power, ATCON laments that over N5 billion spent monthly by operators on power generation could be reinvested in further coverage expansion to address the congestion on the network which resulted to poor quality of service.

More worrisome, ATCON observed is the heavy taxes imposed on telecom companies at the federal, state and local government levels have placed major obstacles, which slows down network expansion thereby compromising quality of service.

Association noted that another problem in the industry is the challenge of conflict of roles and responsibilities amongst government adding that it has become a common phenomenon in the Nigerian Telecom Industry as there are overlapping and duplications of duties by federal and state agencies.

Reacting to the new policy, Africa's largest telecoms operator, MTN, put a positive gloss on the devaluation of the naira, saying the weaker Nigerian currency would also reduce costs in its biggest African market.

MTN is one of many South African companies tapping Africa's largest economy and most populous market.

In statement, MTN declined to quantify the impact on its revenues of the devaluation, which was triggered by a sharply weaker interbank naira rate over the last two months. However, it noted that the currency movement would also reduce its costs.

"We endeavour to have as large a portion as possible of our costs in each operation denominated in local currency, which would in turn offer some protection against the currency movement," it said in a statement.

National ID Card Scheme Gets Positive Reception

FOR several years there had been the quest to have a comprehensive national identity data base. But when due to the failure of past national identity card project, when NIMC’s national electronic identity card project began it was taunted be a failure, however investigation reveals otherwise writes Isaiah Erhiawarien

 Contrary to formed opinion and perception about the ongoing registration of Nigerians for the national electronic identity card (e-ID Card) scheme, that most Nigerians will be evasive of the exercise, investigations revealed that citizens are so much eager to get their biometric data capture so as to own it come 2015 when it will be issued.

The quest for a form of national identity, besides the conventional international travel passport began when General Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd) as military Head of State established the Department of National Civic Registration, DNCR, through Decree 51 of 1979.

Unfortunately, on return to civil rule in 1979, the Shehu Shagari administration, stalled the implementation of the project but 20 years after Obasanjo returned as civilian president, brought the project out of national archive and began the registration Nigerians who were 18 years and above on  February 18, 2003.

The project seemed to have kicked off effectively and albeit on a sound note so that about 60 million Nigerians were registered unfortunately a very good number of them were not given the card.

Sadly again, the project suffered another defeat, this time under a civilian government of the Yar’Adua administration. The government suspended the project saying that it wants integrate several identity schemes into one effective and functional National Identity Management System (NIMs) under its social and economic reforms.

According to a working document by the presidential implementation committee on NIMS, a "reliable system of unique authenticating and verifying the identity of every Nigerian and expatriate, boost national security through efficient and reliable identity authentication, promote consumer credit and minimise fraud."

The committee, which was headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, said that there was the need for the development of an identity management system for the country.

 'When the committee began to work several issues came up, which bothers on the need to have a centralised national identity database or a system of national identity management that efficiently link the private sector identity schemes with that of the government.'

The submission of the committee was that there should be a pool of data for the nation, which can also serve the needs of other government agencies like the  National Pension Commission, PENCOM, National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, National Population Commission, NPC, Nigerian Immigration Services, NIS, DNCR and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the result will be an identification schemes and data bases for the nation that is well integrated.

It was however speculated that government will established an agency or commission to tackle the task of creating a data of all Nigerians, and the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC was given birth but the antecedents of the project almost stalled the dream of NIMC.

For instance, the scandal and sleaze over the award of the project to Sagem, a French company for N38 billion ($214) and the fact that a huge chunk of the valid 42 million could not get their identity cards made many to doubt the sincerity of government on the project.

But that perception has since dropped as investigation by the National Mirror showed that Nigerians are more eager to get registered.

When the Lagos office of NIMC was visited, scores of people including the aged and young Nigerians were on queue waiting to get captured by enrolment officials of NIMC.

 According to the Assistant General Manager, Lagos office at Alausa, Mrs. Titilola Ejiofor there are 25 centres in Lagos state where registration goes on Monday to Saturday saying that on the average on daily basis about 400 Nigerians are captured into the data base of the Commission.

She disclosed that it does not caused money to register at any of the centres adding that if a person decides to go to cyber café to do the online registration, he or she will be billed by the cyber café operator for using their facility.

She explained that government is not asking anyone to pay before their biometrics will be captured into the data base of NIMC adding that there are using their internet facility to register people but they are not government officials or staff of NIMC.

According to her, there are two methods of registration either the individual registers online and print out the registration and then go to any of the centres in Lagos or any part of the country where his biometrics will be captured.

The other method is to go to any of the centres, where a full registration that also involves online will be done for the individual by the enrolment officers before capturing the biometrics.

Explaining further, she said that at the centre, the height, fingerprint and face of the individual will be captured as well as their signature saying that there after temporary sheet that contains the individuals National Identity Number, NIN.

Ejiofor advised that for those who want to use it as a travel identity not to laminate the document saying that embassies do not accept laminated travel documents.

 Another significant reason for the massive embrace of the scheme is the development in the economy, which currently makes it leach technology, particularly the card money technology.

 For instance, the new national identity comes with a chip which makes it possible for it to be use for financial transactions.

 Already, the federal government has secured global certification for the electronic national identity card, e-ID through the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC.

NIMC got the certification for its facilities, which produces the e-ID from the Global Vendors Certification Programme (GVCP) by MasterCard.
The facility that was certified is the Card Personalisation Bureau which is where the National e-ID Cards are personalised and made ready for distribution and subsequent activation.

Deputy Director, Corporate Communications, NIMC, Mr. Abdulhamid Umar said the certification followed conscious effort by the management of the NIMC, which led to the refitting, retooling and upgrading of the card printing facility that was built by government under the previous scheme in compliance with some of the requirements and standards for security and operational procedure in the plastic card industry as set by the EMV, PCI DSS globally for such High Security Areas (HSAs).

Grave Pitfalls Stare FG’s ICT Top Earner Quest

AS THE global economy moves towards economy that is largely driven by technology, more countries seem to tour that line, and Nigeria too but are there pitfalls, it must avoid, writes Isaiah Erhiawarien

Government plans to make the ICT sector top earner for the economy on or before 2020, however obvious observations indicated that there are pitfalls that may make that projection a mirage.

 The general perception in the economy is that technology is the key driver for economic and social development, and it should be adopted to facilitate growth in key sectors of Nigeria’s economy.

The minister of communication technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson had several forum stated the position of government on that which indeed confirm that government foresees ICT as a major driver of the economy considering the unsteady price of oil in the global market.

Speaking recently, she said: "We believe that ICT has the greatest potential to eclipse oil and gas as the core source of national income, if not the most reliable, contributing the maximum possible percentage of income to the country."

She added: "We know that the few agencies under the ministry of communication technology working closely together can certainly deliver on the ICT mandate of the country."

According to her, "The ministry is committed to ensuring that ICT is leveraged to enhance and facilitate the transformational development of Nigeria in critical sectors of the economy such as power, health, education, agriculture, interior to enable inclusive development, job creation, transparency of governance and economic growth."

Also statistics from the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, revealed that the telecoms industry contributes 8.5 per cent to the country's GDP a far cry from what it takes to run the economy and get it from the hand of the oil and gas sector.

The government is also banking on major broadband projects in the country, which are expected to be completed this year, as a way of driving the ICT.

Indeed, the president had given a specific mandate that the broadband projects, which are poised to usher a high speed internet regime in the country, must be completed this year.

According to her, sectors such as education, agriculture, commerce, health, government services, entertainment, security, among others, are expected to be revolutionised using high-speed internet.

Her confidence is also based on what she described as ‘revolution’ that  would be driven within the scope of the 2.3GHz licensing process, which is planned to open up high speed internet services for users.

 “There is a wide range of e-government services, which need to be introduced as soon as possible. These include issuing the national identity cards, driving licences and registration of companies, among many others. In order to introduce these services, individual departments require high-speed internet access; so, from government quarters, there is a large latent demand for broadband access service from providers. So we are committed to seeing the success of the new broadband plan to be spearheaded by the spectrum sales,” Johnson said.

She said government is targeting the transformation of key sectors of the economy under the broadband regime, which is has taken off.

However, investigation revealed that if government did not address some fundamental issues such as power, the activities of the insurgents like Boko Haram and proposed plan by the National Assemble to compel private companies to be listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange, NSE may just be some pitfalls waiting to truncate oil and gas to ICT initiative.

For instance, most of the telecoms firms have withdrawn their staff from North Central Nigeria, heart of the battle ground of Boko Haram. The reason is that the base stations of the mobile operators have been blown up by the insurgents thereby forcing the operators to close shop there.

Investigation revealed that over 150 base stations have been shut down by the insurgents resulting not only to failed network operation but the withdrawal of staff.

It was also gathered that the attack by the insurgents on telecoms facility is not limited to base stations but Mobile Switching Centres, MSC have in one or several cases been their target.

The MSC allows for connection between the calls coming from the mobile phones to the network that the caller wants to call. So, if there are no MSC calls will not even go through.

Current trend of the sale of towers by the operators to tower owners, who may not have the fund to move to areas where the insurgents are in firm control, may just be another pitfall waiting to truncate the oil and gas to ICT revenue earner for government, and that include the fact that operators are unwilling put the damaged base stations back to use as a result of fragile security situation in the states.

 Early during the week, Airtel Nigeria announced that it has gone into agreement to sell 4,800 mobile towers to American Tower Corporation (AMT) in a leaseback transaction American by its parent company, Bharti Airtel Ltd, India’s largest mobile-phone carrier.

Airtel, which initially had about 15,000 mobile towers, had in September sold about 3,500 telecom towers in Africa to Eaton Towers.

Etisalat Nigeria recently sold 2,136 towers to IHS making the operator the first of the three major GSM operators to sell towers. The financial terms of the deal was said to have cost IHS at around US$400m.

Also MTN Nigeria has signed an agreement with IHS Holdings for the transfer of its towers business, comprising 9,151 mobile network towers, to the latter.

The transaction, just like as it was in the case of Airtel is expected to reduce MTN Nigeria’s operating costs; drives network efficiencies and further expand MTN's voice and data capacity.

A recent forcast by TowerXchange, a company that studies tower business across countries said that by the end of 2014, about 84 per cent of Nigeria’s towers will be owned or operated by independent towercos, with only Glo retaining their towers.

Group Chairman at Programos Software Limited, Mr. Emmanuel Amos said that there are obvious signs that quest for the ICT sector to be the major earner for the economy come 2020 is being threatened.

He told National Mirror that for ICT to be a major earner for the country, education in the country must be  IT - ENABLED noting that service capacities must be promoted from tertiary education levels.

Amos stressed that power availability and general resource center such as smart villages and infrastructure that will boost entrepreneurs’ achievements should be place on the front burner of government’s programmes.

He disclosed that so far, the industry is yet to get the needed encouragement from government stressing that government must ensure the adoption of post-2015 strategies as well as policies that would promote sustainable development goals agenda of the UN.

He however, noted that the recent debate by the National Assembly to making listing of private companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange was not an entirely bad idea.

Amos explained that making it mandatory will ensure that companies benefit from the corporate governance rating system of the Stock Exchange adding that “In another light, investors will be protected.”

MTN Partners Slot System to Offer Unique Services

THE season of surprises is still on. In another bold and innovative move, information and communications technology (ICT) company, MTN Nigeria, has commenced a data trade channel partnership with SLOT Systems Ltd, Nigeria's retailer of mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and accessories. The partnership would afford SLOT and MTN customers the opportunity to get MTN’s data services and other products in SLOT Stores nationwide.

Under this partnership, MTN will set up Store-in-Store in Slot Systems outlets across the country. To provide easy access to data services, customers who walk into Slot outlets on Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island and Computer Village, Ikeja will have opportunity to get MTN Products and Services. Customers no longer have to go looking for the nearest Connect Store or Walk-in Centers to meet their data needs.

Slot Systems operates a chain of mobile phones, tablets and computers sales outlets in Nigeria. The company has over 40 outlets with an average sale of three thousand five hundred mobile phones on a daily basis.

Speaking excitedly on the new partnership, MTN's Sales and Distribution Executive, Omatsola Barrow, said the company was constantly developing new ways of making the lives of its customers very convenient by meeting them at the point of their needs. There is a high demand on features and smart phones and the phones in turn require data bundles for the customers to fully optimize the features.

Purchasing phones and subscribing to any of MTN’s data bundle of your choice is now easy and conveniently done at the MTN branded section of every Slot store across the country.

"It is a win-win development for us and Slot Systems. The needs of the customer are at the heart of this partnership” Barrow added.

By 2015, MTN will be physically present in all 45 Slot outlets across the country in the delivery of a bold new digital world to customers. 

Stakeholders Lament Slow E-Payment Uptake

Even in growing and small economies like Kenya, e-payment has be adjudged to be a success with particular reference to its mobile money,m-pesa, but for Nigeria, the case is different as investigations revealed that much success has been recorded.  Who is to blame for this, therefore, well stakeholders think that the users are not well informed or better still someone institution of government is not doing its work.

THE high dependence of   a large number of the Nigerian populace on cash business and the seemly lack of adequate information in the public domain about the electronic payment system are the reasons why the system is still yet unable to make appreciable success like as it has been in countries like Kenya.

Investigation showed that the epileptic failure of telecommunications infrastructures provided by the mobile telephone operators, which is critical to the deployment of the electronic payment, was before now blamed for most of the challenges encountered by users, particularly in the use of mobile money, point of sales,POS, and Automated Teller machine, TM.

However, key stakeholders at a training for information and communications technology journalist in Nigeria said that the banks have been able get the telecoms operators to ensure that there are no network failure, and indeed the stakeholders which include representative from the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System and Interswitch confirmed the new development.

According to them, Nigerians need more information on how the electronic payment system works saying that most problems they encountered in the use of electronic system are basically associated with the use of the system.

Speaking at the training, which was organised by the E-Payment Providers Association of Nigeria-PPAN, the Director, Banking & Payments System Department, Central Bank of Nigeria,Mr. Dipo Fatokun said that a major challenge why the electronic system is yet to fully entrenched in the economic life of Nigeria due to the fact the economic constrains and cash culture of the people.

He said that Nigeria is still a cashed-based economy and majority of its people prefer cash transactions to the detriment of e-payments noting that the public is very much not in tune to innovations.

Exe Sec,E-PPAN, Onajite Regha

He observed that infrastructure such as power, communication, roads and other means of transportations, network connectivity, arising from NIBSS, Switches, banks and telcos- unavailability of financial services 24/7 in remote locations are also challenges that are yet to addressed.

He said further that non-admissibility of electronic evidence in court is an impediment saying that lack of judicial understanding of the peculiarities of e-payments transactions as well as payments instruments limitation together with the integration of the various e-payments components in a common platform are factors limiting the impact of the e-payment system.

Also critical to the success of the e-payment success in the country as identified by Fatokun are issues related to consumer protection, lack of efficient risk management strategies, customer challenges like poor communication and literacy level as well as fraudulent and unethical practices  of banks’ staff  and customers, and skills gap of the stakeholders.

On how to effectively enhance the embrace of the e-payment system, he suggested that the continuous public awareness and seminars on electronic payments benefits saying that there should be incentives for the usage of e-payments channels

Due to the dynamics of crimes in the country, he called for improvement of security issues around the e-payments option so as to boost public confidence adding that there is the need for aggressive deployment of payments channels for easy availability and adequate training on oversight functions of e-payments schemes.

While highlighting the current challenges with e-payment landscape in Nigeria,

Group Head Industry and Retail Chains Interswitch Limited, Mr. Paul Ohakim said that government has a role to play in making a success of the system listing the key areas of challenges to include public private partnership collaboration, more investment on ICT infrastructure, addressing behavioural constraints of the people, building trust in the payment system and reduction in the cost of ICT deployment.

According to him, beyond the need for more sensitisation of the public on the benefit of the e-payment system, government need to build more enforcement mechanism saying that there is also the need not only to improve security and efficient regulation of the e-payment system so as to build trust on it but to develop proven security measures for payment security.

On cost reduction for ICT deployment in the e-payment system he said attention should be paid to outsourcing, lean operations and shared services. 

Ohakim noted that the benefit of the e-payment system spreads across aspects of the national economy covering individuals, organisations and government saying that while it offers risk reduction, convenience, cheaper option and multiple payment channels for the individual it offers reduced cash handling cost, reduced leakage in revenues and better efficiency for organisations.

He also said that government stands to enjoy increased revenue collection, transparency, reduction in wastages and reduced Risk when e-payment system is deployed in the management of its social services saying that for the economy, e-payment ensures financial inclusion and economic growth, tracing of illicit funds and reduced cash handling cost.

While assessing the growth rate of the e-payment system for 2013 a senior official of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Mr. Osamede Odiase disclosed that for almost all identified sectors experienced growth was only 11 per cent average.

According to him, educational services recorded the highest transaction growth rate of 27 percent followed by travel and logistics with 26 per cent growth rate while travel agencies and fuel station had a transaction rate of 19 per cent each followed by fast food and restaurant services and hotel and guest house which had 17 and 16 per cent transaction rate respectively.

He said that while religious transactions was 15 per cent that drugs and pharmacy was 14 per cent adding that retail  and wholesale merchants, airline operations which should high transaction rate each had 13,12 and 7 per cent respectively.

He listed the reasons for the poor performance of the e-payment system to the competitive landscape which include substitute products like quick teller, likely entry of potent new competitors, a shift in buyer needs and tastes away from the industry product and threat to marketing campaigns from Banks.

Odiase observed that regulator policy changes such as threat to pricing, of e-payment products by CBN, PoS merchant service fee, limit of cash deposit and withdrawal as well as ATM cash withdrawals fees are responsible for the poor performance of the sector.

Other reasons listed are dearth of required skills of personal to run the system, low adoption of e-payment from the people due to adversity to change and the operating environment.

Meanwhile, since its introduction in mid-2007, M-PESA, the Kenyan e-payment system had been adopted by 9 million customers as of late 2009 by 40 percent of Kenya’s adult population and is now facilitating an average of $320 million per month in person-to-person transfers (roughly 10 percent of Kenya’s GDP on an annualized basis).

Worthy of note is the extremely rapid uptake of M-PESA and a strong vote of confidence by local users in a new technology as well as an indication of significant latent demand for remittance services. 

Financial Software ‘ll Tackle Growth Challenges, Says CWG

FINANCIAL technology instruments have the potentials to drive the growth of business and meet the challenges of a growing business, the founder and chief executive officer, CWG Plc., Mr. Austin Okere has said.

According to him, when a small business grows, it adds locations from where to serve customers adding that with operations in multiple locations, the small business has difficulty keeping track of inventory, sales and cash from the different locations.

But with technology, business can over these challenges noting that larger organisations, especially those with affiliation to global multinational organisations, already know how to overcome many of these challenges using technology.

He disclosed that they invest heavily in hardware, communication networks, linking their locations together, and various software, typically for accounting, sales, operations and people management.

He urged business to invest in people with the requisite skills in technology and business to keep these all working seamlessly together and delivering value.
He stated that the introduction of FinEdge software for microfinance was designed to help microfinance growth and sustain their business saying it is now available on a monthly subscription basis through a partnership with MTN.

Okere observed that business systems cost a lot of money, typically beyond the reach of many SMEs saying that additional funding from banks and other financial institutions are needed to sustain the growth.

He said that for 20 years, CWG has built a 20 billion naira business helping large organisation rollout these systems and keep them running stressing that banks, Telcos, manufacturing, consulting and other such organisations have benefited from CWG’s service which quickly earned her the nickname - the technology of business.

He said further that in these years, CWG has built a name for herself in the quality of service it offers and the spirit of never leaving the customer stranded.

According to him, CWG launched the CWG 2.0 initiative to bring the same tools large organisations use to drive their operations and growth to the smaller businesses and SMEs, who do not have the kind of budget that the large organisations boast of.

He described the CWG 2.0 as a democratising access to technology for business growth that enables smaller companies and SMEs to utilize these toolsto drive economic revolution saying that there are 17.6 million micro, small and medium enterprises in Nigeria compared to the roughly 200 companies listed on the stock exchange.
Okere revealed that the openshopen.ng eCommerce platform that allows anyone to own and operate an online store with minimum fuss is now available adding that the CWG SMERP platform brings a complete business management solution to even one man businesses at the barest minimum cost. 

National e-ID Will Simplify Government Business

THE absence of a sustainable universal identification prompted the Federal Government to initiate the National identity card, how recently development has showed that it currently propelling the government into running a digital government driven solely by technology.

As part of that initiative, the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, had a joint media session with MasterCard where both organization attempted to unveil the link that exist between government and business in the private sector when technology is applied.

Speaking at the event, director-general/chief executive officer of NIMC,Dr.Chris Onyemenam said that the card technology, which the federal government has introduced will not only enhance government business but have impact on the national e-payment as well as other financial transaction.

He explained that for government, with the card technology details of every citizens’ life can be capture in the chips in the card saying details will include everything about the citizen from birth to death.

According to him, before the introduction of the card, there had been identity challenges which have implications on financial services, national security and economic development.

He noted that challenges with proof of identity in Nigeria has to do with the preponderance of multiple identities and identity tokens, absence of a sustainable universal identification infrastructure in Nigeria, card issuance mistaken for identity management, challenge of identity verification and authentication with implications for commerce and security, public cynicism arising from failed efforts of the past, and financial exclusion of the unbanked and increased cost of KYC.

Describing the new National Identity card as government’s response to identity management challenges Onyemenam said that in order to promote financial inclusion, the NIMS made provision for a payment functions in the card adding that all components of the NIMS are based on best practice in identity management to ensure proof of identity.

He stated that the National e-ID card has 13 applets and the Payment applet is just one of them and functions like a typical ATM Card saying that personal information is safeguarded by the National Identity Management Commission and is not shared with any private parties.

While asserting that the National e-ID card is a both a tool for national identity, he noted that the features in it makes possible for it to be used for electronic payment noting that the Europay, MasterCard and Visa,EMV, is a global standard for inter-operation of integrated circuit cards and IC card capable point of sale (POS) terminals and automated teller machines (ATMs), for authenticating credit and debit card transactions.

Onyemenam disclosed that a firewall is available between the other card applets and EMV applet to prevent information sharing between the EMV and other applets, and that the EMV Applet is activated upon request by the card user saying that cash is loaded on the card only after the user has given authorisation to the bank.

He added that the other benefits of card to the payment industry is improved visibility of the earning population, individual net worth and reduction of tax evasion and promotion of the ease of delivery of inter-bank related services in the financial sector as well as the promotion of the inclusion of the rural population and the introduction of micro ATMs.

Division President, Sub-Saharan, Africa, MasterCard, Daniel Monehin said that the electronic Identity holds a lot benefit for governments saying that it will help drive financial inclusion, reduce costs and promote transparency, spur economic growth, increase civic engagement and create savings and efficiencies.

He added that it will help government drive its business in the area of public sector salary, pension, social benefits, and agric subsidies.