* Our target is financial inclusion for all Nigerians, says Hadejia

Deji Elumoye in Abuja 

The Presidency has disclosed that it is working towards removing all problems associated with seamless digital payments and e-commerce across the country. 

The effort being spearheaded by the Office of the Vice-President via the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and development partners is to ensure citizens seamlessly transfer money using their mobile phones and other devices. 

The Deputy Chief of Staff to the President (Office of the Vice-President), Senator Ibrahim Hadejia, who made this known in Abuja on Tuesday during a stakeholders roundtable, reiterated the resolve by the administration of President Bola Tinubu to drive financial inclusion, using different strategies for different digital payment infrastructure that essentially reach the last mile and serve the financially excluded. 

According to him, there are very few countries in the West that have the kind of ease of payment and banking that is available in Nigeria. 

He said: “It doesn’t happen anywhere in the world, and by the time we begin to address this issues, we can use that reach to enter into the e-commerce stage. And like I said, from our own perspective, we are also worried about the exclusion that is inherent so that eligible Nigerians, no matter where they are, can have access to quality, simple financial services that are beyond educational and poverty levels. 

“From the Office of the Vice-President’s perspective, we look at digital payment and identity as really the last stumbling block in opening up e-commerce in Nigeria. 

“Yes, there is e-commerce going on, but I think the biggest impediments surround the ease of payment, the identity issue and several things we are pushing, which are all interlinked. 

“We are driving financial inclusion in the Office of the Vice-President, which has to do with the strategy for different digital payment infrastructure that would essentially reach the last mile and serve the financially excluded. 

“So, resolving these will amount to killing several birds with one stone. We have been to India and seen what robust PPI can do to e-commerce, and not just e-commerce but trade generally.”

The deputy chief of staff assured Nigerians that by the time government is able to make payment seamless, cell phone users would be able to receive and make payment easily.

His words: “You have a situation where, in a few years, the amount or volume of transaction from digital platforms is in excess of the traditional credit card. So, you have the likes of Wizard and Master card taking an interest, jumping into this space.

“And, of course, to also identify why the African Free Continental Trade Agreement has simply refused to gain the traction that it should have several years after it was established. 

“We can also point to the fact that the issues have to do potentially with the cross-border payment and the identity issue. We are hoping that discussions like this will offer solutions.”

Hadejia further noted that the roundtable would enable government gather enough information and data to make a case from its perspective in regulation, infrastructure, including enacting laws to ensure that most of the issues that have been stagnating e-commerce are addressed. 

Earlier, the Principal Research Fellow, International Economic Development Group, Dr Max Mendez-Parra, said the organisation had been working with the African Continental Free Trade Secretariat and other African countries on Digital Trade on a wide range of coordination of the negotiations of digital trade protocol. 

Mendez-Parra explained that the implementation of the AFCTA is transformative for the African economy, especially on the Nigerian economy, adding that the ODI is assisting government and AFCTA Secretariat in Accra on different aspects associated with the  AFCTA. 

“In particular, we are supporting the negotiations and implementation of the investment protocol and the digital trade protocol as well. So, we have been working with the AFCTA. And this is what has brought us to Nigeria. 

“Already, this is our fourth year that we have been here, and we are teaming up with the Office of the Vice-President to basically enhance different aspects associated with the implementation of the Digital trade protocol in Nigeria,” Mendez-Parra said.

Also speaking, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, said the ministry and the AFCTA secretariat in Accra had come up with an initiative called the AFCTA DG pass, which is a means to operationalize the digital identities. 

Oduwole, who was represented by her Special Adviser, Patience Okala, explained that the initiative is still at its infant stage, expressing hope that the conversations at the roundtable, as well as the concerns that are raised, could fill into the process.

On his part, the Special Assistant (SA) to the President on ICT Policy, Mallam Salisu Dasuki Nagode, said the project came into light two years ago, with the support of Vice-President Kashim Shettima. 

“And this year is more importantly about the conversation across the payment which we are doing in alignment with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. We believe that as much as Nigerians want to trade, they need to be able to make payments in a seamless way across board, and there is a lot of economy to tap in there. So, that is the basic for this conversation,” he said.

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