SIR: In the early 1990s, John Obaro, a visionary banker, made an audacious decision. He left the security of the banking industry to build a Nigerian technology company. At a time when few believed in local software, he envisioned a future shaped by indigenous innovation. That bold move gave rise to SystemSpecs, and eventually, Remita, a homegrown platform that now powers Nigeria’s financial engine.
Fast forward to today, and Remita is no longer just a product. It has become an integral part of Nigeria’s financial infrastructure, a trusted platform enabling transactions for governments, corporates, SMEs, and individuals alike. Beneath its surface lies something even more profound: a story of resilience, scale, data sophistication, and national pride.
A Vision Engineered into Infrastructure
Launched in 2005, Remita was built from the ground up to solve a uniquely Nigerian challenge, which was simplifying how institutions collect money, make payments, and manage payroll. It wasn’t imported or adapted from foreign software. It was developed locally with Nigeria’s complexities in mind, including multiple banks, regulatory variations, and fragmented infrastructure.
The scale of Remita is as remarkable as its reliability. The platform processes transactions valued between N20 trillion and N60 trillion annually, with a cumulative volume that has already exceeded N250 trillion. These figures are not just abstract numbers; they represent salaries paid, taxes remitted, bills settled, and livelihoods sustained.
One of the things that truly sets Remita apart is its robust architecture. It is not pieced together from third-party tools. Instead, it is a purpose-built platform that integrates payroll, payments, collections, reconciliation, and reporting into a single interface. Its proprietary 12-digit Remita Retrieval Reference (RRR) system allows users to track transactions with pinpoint accuracy.
In today’s digital economy, data is power.
Remita processes millions of data points daily, providing deep insight into spending habits, loan repayments, government collections, and more. This data is not static. It is actively used to improve lending decisions, detect fraud faster, and shape smarter policies. Over 400 lending institutions currently rely on Remita’s APIs to assess risk, automate collections, and advance financial inclusion.
More Than a Platform, A National Asset
One of Remita’s most compelling features is that it is a proudly Nigerian innovation, built by Nigerians, for Africa. At a time when much of Africa’s financial infrastructure depends on foreign technologies, Remita offers a sovereign, tested alternative. Its ability to operate at national scale, meet global benchmarks, and evolve with regulatory demands makes it a unique tool for nations seeking to digitise securely. This matters because when a country owns its infrastructure, it controls its data, sets its rules, and can build solutions tailored to its own needs.
Remita’s transformation from a software product into a critical national infrastructure did not happen overnight. It took years of continuous improvement and trust-building, particularly with the public sector. Today, it supports payment operations across federal, state, and local governments. It automates ministries and agencies, powers collections in education and taxation, and brings financial transparency to public institutions.
• Mustapha Okino, a public analyst, wrote from Abuja
