Indications that current drives by the Nigerian government to minimize cash transactions in the country are yielding the desired results emerged on Wednesday with the launching of a $250 million digital payment platform by Network International, a Dubai-based financial services company.
The management of the firm said during a media briefing in Lagos that the launch of its cloud-based and integrated payment suite, known as Network One, would serve banks and telecommunications operators.
According to the owners, deploying the Network One platform in Nigeria aligns with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directive for in-country transaction routing by enhancing its local processing capabilities.
The payments services company maintained that the $250 million platform was now ready to onboard financial technology firms (fintechs) and other financial institutions and mobile network operators (MNOs) in Nigeria and the West African region.
Commenting on the platform’s launch, the company’s Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Nandan Mer, harped on the benefits of digital payments in the growth of economies and businesses since cash is expensive based on the cost of producing, transporting, and storing banknotes.
According to him, cash also moves very slowly, and the faster cash changes hands the more people can do with that cash.
He said: “The speed of payments is also important for any economy, because the velocity of payments, determines the ability for that money to be put back into productive use. That is where the role of electronic payments comes in.
Making further clarifications on why the Network One platform was launched in the country, Mer pointed out that electronic payments also had the advantage of reducing the cost of moving money from one point to another quickly, thereby ensuring faster redeployment of money/
In addition, he disclosed that every 1 percent of the money that is translated from cash to electronic payments over a five-year period can result in a point 4 percent increase in GDP”.
Mer added: “So electronic payments have a direct correlation with the enhancement of or the increase of the GDP of a country, and that’s why we go back to our purpose.
“Our purpose is to help businesses and economies grow by simplifying payments and simplifying commerce. So that is what we are doing here in Nigeria.”
On the way to accelerate financial inclusion in Nigeria, the digital payment expert said the Federal Government had a crucial role to play in the drive, linking the path to accelerated financial improvement to government-sponsored programmes.
According to him, to deepen financial inclusion in the country the Nigerian government needed to put in place a financial inclusion target for all ecosystem participants, noting that the initiative has grown rapidly in climes where there have been government-sponsored domestic payment programmes.
Mer further clarified: “I’m not saying that this is the government’s responsibility. I’m just saying that when government gets involved, it becomes a tremendous force for good.
“And it has been proven in many other markets. China created a scheme called China union payment and accelerated digital inclusion, use of digital payment tools”, he added.
This is even as he tasked digital payment ecosystem players to embrace government policies and infrastructure, assuring that Network International will be the first to adopt such policies whenever they are rolled out in Nigeria.
In his remarks, the company’s group managing director of processing in Africa, Reda Helal, said the company debuted to create a safe environment for a digital payment ecosystem to ensure that Nigerians and Africans can safely and conveniently transact in a manner that would enable them to opt for digital payment and minimize cash transactions.
Helal, who is also the Network International’s co-head of group processing, recalled that the company was part of the initial discussion on financial inclusion and the cashless society initiative about 20 years ago.
On the launch of the platform, he said: “So, our purpose today is to hydrate the digital payments ecosystem in Nigeria to ensure those in remote places — not only here or Abuja — but everyone who can have access to a phone, it doesn’t have to be a digital or a smartphone, will have the ability to transact digitally without resorting even to a bank.”
Photo Caption
L-R: Network International group managing director processing in Africa, Reda Helal; the company’s Regional Managing Director, West and Central Africa Chinwe Uzoho; Network International’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Nandan Mer; and Managing Director, Nigeria, Network International; Lola Agbebiyi, during the media roundtable to announce the launch of Network One payment platform on Wednesday in Lagos
