Adeoti, inlaks boss call for improved institutional operations to spur tech innovations

Femi Adeoti, managing director/CEO, Africa Operations of Inlaks has reiterated the effectiveness of technology and innovation to promote the operations of institutions in all spheres of the economy.

The ICT Personality of the Year recipient at the Beacon of Information and Communication Technology awards held recently in Lagos said in his keynote address that technology and innovation have touched and stimulated vast growth in different endeavours including mobile and digital payments, biometric verification, shared agent network, identity management, immigration, e-learning amongst others.

He said: “Mobile payments technology has become increasingly significant, especially in the context of developing economies, where many low income households and micro enterprises do not have ready access to financial services”.

Femi cited management control systems, which rides on the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and has helped the current government to control revenue leakages, adding: “If a country has a fragmented system for handling government payments through the banking system, it is a critical public financial management weakness that needs to be addressed.

“TSA has enabled regular and effective monitoring of government cash resources by providing complete and timely information. TSA has also helped the government to get a stronger hold of its finances as well as reduce fraud.”

He mentioned the Biometric Verification Number (BVN) exercise introduced by the Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement Systems [NIBSS] and the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN], which has made it possible for more than 35 million bank customers to make transactions through mobile and digital payments platforms in an online, real-time fashion.

He also explained that the Shared Agent Network (SAN) powered by the Bankers Committee and the CBN will enable financial inclusion and make it possible to move banking beyond the bank branches by providing safer payment, transfer processes and simplicity of banking operations.

The Inlaks boss highlighted the impact of technology on e-Learning, stating that innovation has not only made access to information easier but has arguably made learning easier.

“The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), an e-learning platform is an example of how learning can take place at any point, whether in real time or deferred, thus making education functional, cost-effective and flexible”.

Adeoti presented a world bank case of the government of Bangladesh as an example of a country that has effectively adopted technology and innovation to reinvent itself by embracing a holistic approach in how it leveraged ICT for governance, economic growth, and employment creation through its four strategic pillars for Digital Bangladesh, which broadly covers digital government, ICT in business, connecting citizens and human resource development.

In his address, he said that for Bangladesh’s key objectives such as acceleration of growth (to 8% per year by 2013), social inclusion, participation and empowerment to be achieved, the government of Bangladesh has established e-government foundations and develops e-services to support public sector reform and modernization efforts.

“When technology and innovation meet, Nigeria will experience increase in entrepreneurship, as technology will contribute to our GDP growth, increase innovative small and medium-scale businesses (SMEs), increase productivity and increased knowledge base”, he concluded.