According to the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, SystemSpecs Company Limited, Mr. John Obaro, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s cashless initiative has achieved some feat despite infrastructural challenges.
Obaro, while speaking to journalists in an interview stated that some of the challenges facing the cash policy drive remained infrastructural issues adding the it did not stop the rapid spread of e-payment in the country .
“Well, the first thing people always talk about is infrastructural challenges. The mere fact that there are infrastructural challenges has not stopped the rapid growth of e-payment in Nigeria. We are not where we were five years ago. In fact, we are not where we were two years ago.
“Therefore, many things are improving. We know we are not yet there, but we should not discountenance the fact that a lot of progress has been made. We cannot wait and say we cannot practice e-payment until everything is perfect because that day will not come. Even if you go to the developed countries, you still have occasional failures.
“You still have communication challenges. It may not be as much as we have here, but they still happen. Therefore, I really would not want us to focus on a glass that is half-empty, let us focus on the portion that is half-full. We have the opportunities with us here, things are happening, and things are getting better. So, let us focus on the fact that it is growing and the challenges that are coming up are not irresolvable .
Accessing the impact of the policy so far, he noted that initiative has began to gain the peoples acceptance adding that people have seen it benefits.
“Cashless policy is the direction of the world. The convenience is so obvious. Even in Nigeria, the resistance that was there in the early days is beginning to thin out because people are beginning to see the benefits; they are seeing that this thing works, and things can only get better. So I see a situation in which more players will come. With the banks now fully on board on electronic payments, it is obvious that this is the direction things will go in the country as well”, he assured.
Speaking on electronic fraud, Obaro stated that fraud control is more easier in e-business .
“There has always been fraud wherever you have man and money. The bulk of cash are now moving from cash to electronic space; of course the robbers will follow. But the good news is that it is actually easier to put in controls in the electronic space. We are not saying fraud will not happen, but it becomes much easier to put in controls. With tracker, you can monitor where the money is going to and who is doing what.
“Thieves thrive under anonymity. When they know that they cannot be caught and nobody will know they did it, they will continue. But when they know that in the electronic space, they would be tracked though it takes time, they will retract. Yes, there is electronic fraud, but that I believe is more in the short term than in the long term”, he said.