Upon completing the routine security check, we ascended to the impressive Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) complex in Abuja. Led to a spacious yet modest hall where an event was unfolding, we found seats beside a woman modestly dressed in a Muslim Hijab. She greeted us warmly and invited us to sit beside her. Her humility and warmth immediately put us at ease.

We initially assumed she was a guest or another participant at the briefing. However, as we discussed the media industry, she listened intently, nodding in agreement. When she finally spoke, her insightful comments on disruptive technologies and their impact on the communication industry left us in awe. Her deep knowledge spanned online streaming services, virtual events, and redefining audience engagement through innovation, leaving us with a profound respect for her expertise.

She elaborated on how blockchain, 5G networks, and artificial intelligence facilitate secure, faster connectivity and interactive experiences with enhanced royalty management. Beyond aiding in content generation and personalisation, she noted media production is becoming increasingly democratised. Moreover, she ‘schooled’ us on the latest technological tools for fact-checking, cybersecurity, and digital journalism—all without a trace of arrogance or pomposity.

As the event concluded, we offered our printed business cards. In response, she shared her digital business card. Scanning the QR code revealed her identity: Hajia Rakiya Shuaibu Mohammed, the Director of Information Technology at the Central Bank of Nigeria. This position speaks volumes about her expertise and influence in the field.

Curiosity drove me to search for her profile upon leaving. What I uncovered was astounding. Despite not being a celebrity tech expert paraded on social media or television, she is an extraordinary IT specialist. Former CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele described her as such, having promoted her from Head of Information Security Management after a rigorous selection process.

In his remarks at the eNaira Hackathon Grand Finale in Abuja in 2022, Emefiele, the then CBN Governor, credited the success of Africa’s first central bank digital currency partly to Hajiya Rakiya. He admitted to underestimating her suitability for the Director of Information Technology position, initially preferring a male candidate. He said, “I must single her out. When she was considered for the director role, I initially doubted. I was thinking.. I’m Sorry, ladies, please forgive me. I said a lady IT Director. I went back and began to read her CV. She is a First-Class computer science graduate, a brilliant erudite lady from Northern Nigeria, and a chartered accountant. I said you could not have a better person as head of IT for Central Bank of Nigeria.”

Her academic and professional accolades are extensive. Rakiya was the Head Girl of the Federal Government Girl College, Bakori, and the Best Graduating Student in 1982. She obtained a First-Class degree in Computer Science from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in 1987, followed by a Master’s degree in Information Systems Engineering from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) in 1994. She has also attended executive education programs at Harvard University and Oxford University.

Rakiya’s professional journey spans over 25 years across the financial, telecommunications, and technology sectors. Before her promotion to IT Director at the CBN, where she spearheaded and implemented the Industry Security Operation Centre (NFICERT) and Africa’s first Digital Currency, Rakiya had headed the System Services and Information Security Management (CISO) Division of the bank, where she modernised the IT infrastructure and introduced innovative solutions like video conferencing. She had developed and implemented robust information security strategies, maintaining ISO 27001 certification and ensuring zero major security incidents.

Previously, she was Head of Strategy and IT at Galaxy Backbone Plc (2009-2011), CIO at Premium Pension Limited (2005-2008), Deputy General Manager (IT) and CIO of NITEL (2003-2005), and Head of Branch Banking Systems in the Northern Region of Continental Merchant Bank (1988-1995).

She holds numerous certifications, including Lean Process Practitioner, Certified IT Business Manager, Certified Chief Information Security Officer (CCISO), Certified Enterprise and Solution Architect, Certified IT Governance Professional (COBIT, CGEIT), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Chartered Accountant (ICAN) and Honorary member of the Certified Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).

On May 16, 2024, she made an outstanding presentation to the CBN board on maximising the utility of current IT facilities. However, a week later, despite her impressive background, certifications, and contributions to the bank, Rakiya has become one of the victims of an inexplicable spate of officers retrenched by the current CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso.

Here is a woman who has contributed immensely by ensuring increased revenue, reduced costs, and improved security in various organisations she had worked for and could just be retired due to political exigency.

It is perplexing to understand the rationale behind retrenching such highly qualified and integral personnel among several others in that bank, especially considering the ongoing appointments of external consultants. If retaining and promoting the best within the service is not prioritised, what justifies these replacements with outsiders?

Yushau A. Shuaib is the author of “Award Winning Crisis Communication Strategies.” yashuaib@yashuaib.com

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TECHDIGEST – President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday in Daura, Katsina State, approved a 10-day extension of the deadline for the swapping of currency to new notes.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), who confirmed this to newsmen in Daura, Katsina State, revealed that the new deadline is now Feb. 10.

Emefiele, who was in Daura on Sunday morning, had a closed door meeting with the Buhari, where he obtained the approval.

He said Nigerians, who were yet to change their Naira notes from the old to new ones, ”now have an opportunity to do so”.

The apex bank’s governor however cautioned that people must utilise the opportunity because the deadline would not be extended again.

READ ALSO: NITDA Engages Partners On Digital Acceleration Programs For Nigerian Startups

NAN recalls that the CBN had fixed Jan. 31 as the deadline for the legitimacy of the old Naira notes.

The redesigned Naira notes, comprising N200, N500 and N1,000, became legal tender on Dec. 15, 2022, after they were unveiled by Buhari on Nov. 23, 2022, in Abuja.

Reports by correspondents of NAN across the country on Saturday indicated that traders and business owners were asking their constomers to pay with new notes.

It was also discovered that some of the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) across states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were still dispensing the old Naira notes, while there were long queues at few ATMs dispensing the redesigned Naira notes.

Some banks dispensing the new notes had configured their ATMs to dispense N5,000 or N10,000 per transaction.

Also, some Point of Sale (PoS) operators were still paying with old Naira notes, while some who had the redesigned Naira notes increased their charges by 100 to 200 per cent. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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TECHDIGEST – Telecommunication operators have reached out to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for approval to phase out the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data offered to banks due to over N80bn.

The Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, have reportedly said that the operators had sought regulatory approval to implement partial removal of the USSD services on Thursday.

“We have sought regulatory approval to pursue partial removal. We would start disconnecting those who owe us in batches, a highest debtor scenario.

READ ALSO: FG Moves To Transform Nigeria into Hub For Talent, Innovation

“We don’t know as regards the timing because we are required to get approval before acting. But we would certainly commence the process once it is approved. The amount is over N80bn, it is not yet up to N90bn, but it is up to that.” he stated.

Recall that Deposit Money Banks and telecom operators have been at odds since 2019 over non-remittance of USSD fees.

In 2019, telcos said they could no longer provide the services for free and proposed to take a cut of N4.50k per 20 seconds from the charges paid by customers to the banks.

However, the banks kicked against it, alleging that it would raise costs by 450 percent.

On March 12, 2021, telecom operators announced that they would suspend USSD service due to N42 billion in bank debt.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami had written to CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, highlighting the impending danger of the disagreement and highlighting the importance of banks paying the accumulated interest.

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TECHDIGEST – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said that the concentration of fintech companies in Lagos State is slowing down the development of fintech across the country, especially in the hinterlands.

The apex bank identified this as a major challenge to financial inclusion in the country and fails to align with the National Fintech Strategy drafted by the National Financial Inclusion Steering Committee.

Note that the strategy, among others, was designed to drive a wider spread of fintech across the country, helping to achieve the country’s 95% financial inclusion target by 2024.

Why Lagos is attractive

Explaining why fintechs are concentrated in Lagos, the CBN noted that aside from the large size of the market, the State also has a higher GDP per capita than Nigeria. While the country’s GDP per capita is put at USD 2,229.9 (as of 2019) that of Lagos was put at USD 6,238.

READ ALSO: Tech Firm Promotes Industrial Automation

“Many Fintech businesses are focused on Lagos because of the size of the market; Lagos is the commercial capital of Nigeria with over 20 million inhabitants and a higher GDP/capita of USD 6,238. However, this has slowed Fintech development in the hinterland,” the CBN said.

Need for fintech strategy

In his foreword to the strategy document, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who is also the Chairman of the National Financial Inclusion Steering Committee, said the committee believes that fintech has the potential to facilitate inclusive growth in the Nigerian economy.

He said: “In light of this, the national financial inclusion stakeholders developed a strategy to leverage fintech for inclusive growth and development, while enabling the Nigerian FinTech ecosystem for global competitiveness.

The strategy seeks to achieve these objectives through the implementation of some key initiatives to catalyze the Fintech ecosystem. It highlights demand and supply side imperatives for harnessing and retaining the talent pool in the FinTech space and the mainstreaming of fintech into the Financial Service sector.

“Furthermore, the document seeks to address issues that have militated against the growth of fin techs in Nigeria and will serve as a collaborative tool to maximize the benefit of FinTechs while mitigating the risk.”

According to the CBN Governor, the National Fintech Strategy is a major component of the Payment Systems Vision 2025 (PSV2025). He added that the strategy would enable the attainment of the objectives of the Nigerian Startup Bill, 2022, particularly in the Financial Services sector.

Source: Nairametric

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TECHDIGEST – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised the alarm that Financial Technology initiatives or companies popularly called FinTechs will soon start doing better than traditional banks and may run the latter out of business.

Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, raised the alarm on Wednesday in Abuja at the 28th edition of the Annual In-house Executive Seminar on “Digitalization of Money and Monetary Policy in Nigeria.”

Represented by the Deputy Governo,r Financial Systems Stability, Mrs. Aishah N. Ahmad, Emefiele in his address, noted that there is “the fear of FinTech outcompeting traditional banks, with associated profitability risk.”

FinTechs are organisations that use technology to support or enable banking and financial services.

Some of the famous FinTechs in Nigeria include Paga, Interswitch, Flutterwave, Kuda bank among many others.

Emefiele warned that FinTechs are likely to outshine traditional banks as such erode their current streak of profitability.

READ ALSO: Amazon Opens Office In Nigeria

He also noted that “with increased technological absorption and financial digitization, comes increased risk of data theft and privacy, cybercrime and fraud.”

The CBN governor is therefore advocating “for not only expanding payments system infrastructure, but also updating the instruments of supervision.”

Talking about financial inclusion, Emefiele said considerable gains have been achieved in boosting financial inclusion in Nigeria, but he is worried that the 64 percent inclusion rate is slowing down “the digital transformation wheel, as all citizens must be carried along to optimise the gains of a digital economy.”

According to him, “while cash-based transactions have declined significantly in the last decade, it is still the dominant means of payment, amidst a large informal sector. Granted that Nigeria boasts of one of the fastest growing FinTech ecosystems in Africa.”

He went on to state that, “with the industry projected to grow by 12 percent annually (McKinsey & Company, 2022), the technological space is still maturing, with limited market size, funding and venture capitalists, access to baseline technologies, and skills, as common features.”

Emefiele noted that despite the significant progress “recorded in the use and spread of digital payment infrastructure, particularly in the economic cities, the current financial inclusion rate suggests that more work is needed.”

“The high cost of telecommunications infrastructure, including internet and electricity, in remote, urban and low economic activity areas, continue to dissuade investments in such areas, where low income and financial illiteracy are already inhibiting social and economic advancement.”

He then called for the deepening of the financial system through broader coverage.

In spite of these challenges, the CBN governor said opportunities still exist “for the expansion of new business models, with add-on benefits, greater efficiency and customer satisfaction. Banks can lead value propositions for the growth of local innovators by providing venture capital, while focusing on other things.”

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TECHDIGEST – The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, may have since announced that the naira notes of 200, 500 and 1,000 would be redesigned for some reasons, but it is the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC), a government-owned banknote printer and mint that will see the action through.

Founded in 1963, the federal government-owned minting firm is presently under the leadership of Ahmed Halilu, a participant in Senior Executive Course 39, 2017, of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies Kuru, Jos.

The Economic Confidential reports that Halilu who was appointed the Managing Director of NSPMC last month is an elder brother to Aisha Buhari, the wife of the President.

Before his latest appointment, Halilu had headed the company in an acting capacity, following the resignation of Abbas Masanawa on May 16. Before the elevation, Halilu was the Executive Director, Corporate Services of the NSPMC.

Buhari approved the appointment of Halilu after the recommendation of the governor of Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, who serves as the NSPMC board chairman.

Mr Halilu has over 23 years of experience in the Banking industry having worked with African International Bank Limited, AIB and Zenith Bank Plc.

Mr Halilu holds a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture B. (Agric), Masters in Business Administration as well as Masters in International Affairs and Diplomacy all from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.

Halilu had earned several other professional and diploma certifications that proved his wealth of knowledge. His managerial experience is not in question considering his 15 years of a managerial and financial portfolio.

Economic Confidential gathered that his first working experience post-nysc in 1992 was at African International Bank at Kano State. He would thereafter become a deputy manager in charge of the Foreign Exchange department in 1998.

Furthermore, his earliest managerial position was his two-year stint at CBN Kaduna Branch as the manager in charge of Corporate Banking Loans and Advances Recovery. In his long career as a financial expert, he had attended not less than 17 high-value courses.

The Adamawa State-born technocrat is also a member of the Nigerian Institute of Management, NIM.

Emefiele, while announcing the Apex Bank’s intention to redesign the country’s currency, said CBN would release the re-designed naira notes by December 15, 2022.

According to the CBN governor, this was targeted at controlling currency in circulation as well as curb counterfeit currency and ransom payment to kidnappers and terrorists.

He noted, “Indeed, the integrity of a local legal tender, the efficiency of its supply and its efficacy in the conduct of monetary policy are some of the hallmarks of a great central bank.”

On how it would help curb ransom payment, he said, “Also, in view of the prevailing level of security situation in the country, the CBN is convinced that the incident of terrorism and kidnapping will be minimised as access to large volume of money outside the banking used as source of funds for ransom payment will begin to dry up.”

He further identified more reasons that necessitated the re-designing of naira notes.

According to the apex bank governor, the challenges included: significant hoarding of banknotes by members of the public; worsening shortage of clean and fit banknotes with attendant negative perception of the CBN and increased risk to financial stability; and increasing ease and risk of counterfeiting evidenced by several security reports.

Following Emefiele’s pronouncement, experts and Nigerians would have concluded that critical stakeholders endorsed the move to give our naira notes a facelift. But they got a shocker when the federal government, through the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmad, denied having knowledge of the naira redesign.

Ahmad, while disowning the policy, said if implemented, the redesigning would portend great consequences for the nation and its economy.

With both Emefiele and Mrs. Ahmed serving in the same government, and the former even reporting to the latter, it is incredulous that FG is denying having knowledge of the Emefiele-led CBN’s latest action.

The two questions begging for answer are: how will CBN come up with an economic policy without first intimating FG? Is Emefiele and the Finance Minister not working for the same government?

Commenting on the development, former Economic Adviser and Chief Executive Officer of National Planning under President Olusegun Obasanjo, Prof. Magnus Kpakol, said that the exercise would come at a cost, adding, however, that the apex bank must have considered the cost of the change to the economy.

On his part, the Executive Director, Technical, Anchor Insurance Limited, Mr. Adebisi Ikuomola, said that the he doesn’t see the development having any tangible effect on the economy or strengthening the naira.

He said: “The CBN said that the move is geared towards reducing the volume of naira in circulation, however I don’t see how that can positively affect the economy or strengthen the naira. The naira is weak in the foreign exchange market and this policy may not turn that around.”

In his reaction, the Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr. Muda Yusuf, described the planned move by the apex bank as embarking on a profligate exercise and a distraction.

His words: “It is difficult to see any compelling value proposition of this currency redesign idea. The cost of such an action would be outrageous and disproportionate compared to the expected benefits advanced by CBN.”

Economic Confidential notes that amid the raging debate on the re-designed naira notes, President Buhari’s inlaw, Ahmed Halilu, and his team at NSPMC have their work cut out for them, if they want to meet the timeline of the release of the new naira notes set by Emefiele. The clock is already ticking.

By Economic Confidential

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TECHDIGEST – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stated that the eNaira application has so far recorded a total of 905,588 downloads. However, only 282,600 are currently active.

This was revealed by the governor of the CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele,  at Tuesday’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.

Emefiele also announced that about 13,136 wallets had been downloaded via the unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) route, which was introduced less than a month ago.

READ ALSO: NCC, NLRC set up committee to strengthen consumer protection againts mobile lotteries

He said, “So far, 905,588 people have downloaded the app, with 282,600 of them currently active. So far, transactions have exceeded 1.49 million worth over N3.484 billion, with the breakdown as follows: 78,115 consumer-to-bank transactions worth about N1 billion, 90,760 bank-to-customer transactions worth N945 million, 35,800 consumer-to-consumer transactions worth about N480 million, and 171,000 consumers to merchant transactions worth over N387 million.”

Emefiele also highlighted the recent success of the USSD  linkage to eNaira. He said, “13,136 wallets have so far been created via the USSD channel – that was the channel we introduced about three-four weeks ago and we are happy that progress has since been made’’.

He also stated that Nigerians have increased their use of eNaira for online transactions. He added, “For e-commerce, we have seen a 9.946 percent increase between July and September, and this remains very encouraging. We believe the eNaira is an alternative to you holding an analogue naira and so it is very convenient.”

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TECHDIGEST – Experts in the financial sector have said the growth of the eNaira is dependent on its acceptance by the general public.

When the CBN launched the e-Naira in October 2021, Nigeria became one of the first countries in the world to launch a central bank digital currency that is available to the public. However, there have been questions about its adoption and general acceptance.

According to the Deputy-President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce, Gabriel Idahosa, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s digital currency offers an additional option for cashless transactions.

While speaking to our correspondent, he said, “Widespread adoption of eNaira will grow as more merchants and other vendors or service providers in the private and public sector announce its acceptance. Commercial banks have already enabled all bank customers to fund their eNaira wallets.”

Speaking on the sustainability of the digital currency, he noted that the nationwide acceptance of eNaira was hinged on the efforts of the federal, state, and local governments.

READ ALSO: 238 Nigerian Tech Startups Raise Over $2 Billion In Seven years, Dominate Africa – Report

He added, “As all federal, state and local government agencies announce the acceptance of eNaira, its adoption by the public will rise.

“Also, hotels, supermarkets, transporters, taxis, intercity bus services, airlines, etc. and similar service providers will drive further growth in adoption as they announce the acceptance of the eNaira.

“Like banks, payment service providers like Flutterwave only enable adoption by providing an additional option to vendors and consumers to do a cashless transaction.”

Buttressing Idahosa’s point, economic expert, Prof Akpan Ekpo, stated that commercial banks involvement in advocacy and efforts for the eNaira to gain adoption was vital for improved acceptance.

He said, “Commercial banks should also join the effort. If we keep up the advocacy, and people see the benefit, in the long-term it is sustained. It also depends on the other climes, the eNaira is not just in Nigeria but in other countries. If they see progress being made and realise the benefits in the long term, it is sustainable.”

The PUNCH had earlier reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria launched a sensitisation fair for residents across the 13 Local Government Areas of Nasarawa state.

According to the Director of Corporate Communications, CBN, Osita Nwanisobi, the programme was to educate residents of the state on the interventions, policies, and programmes of the CBN and to encourage them to start using the eNaira for financial transactions.

On May 11 2022, the CBN’s governor, Godwin Emefiele, stated that central banks across Africa and other parts of the world were trying to study the nation’s eNaira project.

During an experience-sharing tour of the CBN’s CBDC by officials of the Bank of Uganda in Abuja, he said, “We feel delighted with what we are doing in the area of the Central Bank Digital Currency. What we are doing in the area of eNaira is attracting the interest of different countries in the world.”

He noted that the CBN had received inquiries from central banks in Africa and the world to understand what the bank was doing.

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TECHDIGEST – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele has announced that Nigerians will from next week use USSD code for eNaira transactions.

The apex boss revealed the new feature on eNaira at the Grand Finale of the 2022 eNaira Hackathon in Abuja recently, believing that the move would help boost eNaira acceptability among Nigerians.

USSD is a code programmed into your SIM card or cell phone to make it easier to perform certain actions.

Speaking on USSD benefits, Emefiele says, “Nigerians, both banked and unbanked, will be able to open an eNaira wallet and conduct transactions by simply dialing *997 from their phones.

“Shortly after this, both merchants and consumers with bank accounts can use the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) to transfer and receive eNaira to any bank account”.

“This will further deepen the integration of the eNaira with the existing national payment infrastructure”.

Additionally, he “promise to increase the level of Financial Inclusion in the country because just like the Naira, the eNaira is expected to be accessible to all Nigerians and would provide more possibilities to bring in the unbanked into the digital economy”.

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TECHDIGEST – Enrolments for the Biometric Verification Number (BVN) by bank account owners in the country rose to 54.7 million as of May 29, 2022. According to the data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), this shows that 3 million new enrolments were recorded between January and May this year.

As of December 26, 2021, the enrolment for the number stood at 51.7 million. The NIBSS data also revealed that the BVN database grew by six million in the year.

Meanwhile, NIBSS data showed that active bank accounts in the country stood at 133.5 million as of December 2021. While there may be multiple accounts linked to a single BVN, industry analysts said there is still a gap between bank accounts and BVN registrations, which must be filled.

READ ALSO: RiNET: Nigeria’s Startup Eases Access To Research From Tertiary Institutions

To have many more Nigerians on the BVN database, the CBN had in December 2019 announced the commencement of the classification BVN 2.0 plan that allows both the rich and poor in rural areas to access financial services. The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who broke the news at the end of the 11th Bankers’ Committee retreat in Ogere, Ogun State, explained that BVN will now be classified into two, BVN Premium and BVN Lite.

According to him, while the BVN Premium covers customers that can provide the 18 basic requirements for a complete BVN enrolment, the BVN Lite requires minimal documentation like names and phone numbers for bank customers, especially those in the rural areas that do not meet the full requirements.

The initiative, which is in collaboration with the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) and Mobile Money Operators (MMOs), would ensure more Nigerians are brought into the financial system. “The BVN 2.0 classification scheme will help bring more people into the financial system and reduce the financial exclusion rate,” the CBN Governor had said.

Source: Nairametric 

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