Nigeria moves towards a cashless society

  1. Posted on Friday 13 February 2009 - 15:20
    Emeruwa
    Image of Emeruwa
    Victor Emeruwa, AfricaNews reporter in Lagos, Nigeria
    The government of Nigeria has directed all ministries and government establishment to adopt e-payment system for government transactions. This include contract payment, workers salaries and all forms of cash and check payment transactions will now be replaced with e-payment system. The new payment system is to take immediate effect.
    Central Bank of Nigeria
    Nigeria’s Accountant General of the Federation, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo said the introduction of e-payment is aimed at eliminating payment bureaucracy associated with handling cash transfers and check payments. Dankwambo also noted that this development will strengthen the efficiency of doing business with the government and also help to check corruption.

    Initial challenges of coping with the new system are being reported across the country, government workers are skeptical about the new payment system. “We can agree with the movement towards this global trend but how can you operate this system without constant power supply” asks Seun Adefioye, a civil servant based in Abuja. Adefioye’s fear is just one out of a handle full of skeptics’ that greeted the adopted payment system.

    “I was at the Bank with my wife to cash her salaries, they told us the systems were down, we were advised to check back, we returned to the Bank six hours later and the problems had not been rectified. As I speak with you its three days now and I cannot still cash the money” Theophilus Abah, another concerned Nigeria said.

    The Accountant General of the Federation has expressed hope in that the system has come to stay and everything that will make it work will be sorted out soon.

    Nigeria is also advancing in strengthening other areas of the global electronic system through government owned private Information Communication Technology and Management Company, Galaxy Backbone which has introduced e-governance, e-community, e-education and e-healthcare on its internet broadband.

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