Federal Government Moves To Fix Digital Payment Glitches, Boost e-Commerce

The Federal Government said it was working towards removing all glitches against seamless digital payments and e-commerce across the country.

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

Deputy Chief of Staff to the President in the Office of the Vice President, Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday during a stakeholders’ roundtable.

According to a statement by Stanley Nkwocha, the spokesman of the vice president, Senator Hadejia 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 were very few countries in the West that have the kind of ease of payment and banking available in Nigeria.

“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,” he said.

He added that the Office of the Vice President was looking at digital payment and identity as the last stumbling block in opening up e-commerce in Nigeria.

“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.”

Resolving these, he noted will amount to killing several birds with one stone,” Hadejia said.

He assured that by the time government make payment seamless, cell phone users would be able to receive and make payment easily.

Hadejia continued: “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 Mastercard 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,” he said.

Earlier, the Principal Research Fellow, International Economic Development Group, Dr Max Mendez-Parra, ODI Global 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 was 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,” he said.

Also, 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 to operationalize the digital identities.

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

For his part, Special Assistant to the President on ICT Policy, Mallam Salisu Nakande said the project came into light two years ago, with the support of the Vice President Kashim Shettima.

“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.