ICT experts condemn Central Bank’s partnership with foreign firm



CBN building


Oluwaseyi Bangudu

Some experts in the field of Information and Communication Technology, ICT, have expressed dissatisfaction with the decisions of Nigerian government agencies to work with foreign firms on local projects, instead of partnering with local firms.

This outburst was triggered by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s decision to work with a foreign firm on the banking industry biometric solutions project. The regulatory body yesterday signed a Banking Industry Biometric Solutions Project agreement with Demalorg BMS, a German company.

The agreement was in furtherance of the regulatory body’s decision to achieve more reliable, technology driven, fraud-free banking services delivery. By the terms of the agreement, the first phase of the project would connect the Central Data point to at least one branch of each bank, the Central Bank and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, NIBSS, within 90 days; after which the second phase, which will ensure full capture of biometric details of all bank customers nationwide, will commence and be completed within 12 months.

The objective of the project, which is to cost about $50 million, is to provide a centralised platform through which banks may enroll and uniquely verify the identity of each customer for ‘know your customer,’ KYC purposes, perform credit checks, verify customer’s integrity and authenticate customers from a point of transaction device.

The Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi, said the project represented a major landmark in the Bankers Committee’s efforts aimed at promoting financial inclusion drive, expansion of banking services, access to credit and more importantly, dealing with Know Your Customer (KYC), money laundering and other challenges the industry is still contending with.

It is also expected to help in complementing the other projects embarked on by various government agencies, including the National Identity Card project, to build a single identification database for all Nigerians.

Though the project is for a good cause, the ICT experts say these jobs could have been done by local ICT organisations and experts as outsourcing local projects closes the opportunities for more employment and poverty eradication. They insisted that the job could have been bided for and even if a foreign firm wins the bid, the condition would have been for it to work closely with a local firm.

Ibrahim Dasuki Makande, Former Minister of State, Communications, said the nation is under the colonialism of foreign technology.

"The challenge we have as a country is that we are under colonialism, digitally. We are being colonised by Technology. The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria just awarded a foreign firm the biometric project of the banking industry," he said.

Mr. Makande said this at the fifth edition of the West African Information and Communications Technology (WAFICT) congress, which held Thursday, in Lagos.

"This means the Central Bank will hand over all our data to a foreign firm. This firm will take all our data, in the name of working on the project. It means that someone can just hold us to ransom. This concept of outsourcing should be addressed. Nigerian firms are outsourcing their projects to foreign firms, including the networks, to foreign companies," he added.

"We cannot afford to lose out on this sector. We are making money, yes; dividends, No. How do we get dividends? What we have is capital flight. Money that has been made in Nigeria is taken to other countries. We have able young men and women who can do these jobs, young Nigerian Engineers who can man these jobs. I believe we are all colonised. What this means is that firms that do these jobs locally can lose their jobs," he said, adding that aside these, outsourcing poses security challenges.

"We must look at this. We are talking of insurgency. It is not limited to the North. It is a Nigerian issue. We have to end poverty and unemployment challenges" he said.

Emmanuel Ekuwem, former President, Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) said outsourcing also has negative effects on the Naira.

"When you export, the Naira is strengthened but when you import, the Naira is weakened" he said, urging organisations to maximise local human resources and talent. He also urged foreign ICT firms that have been operating in the nation to establish plants and assembly companies in the country, to aid employment.

The congress brought together telecom regulators and operators across the sub-region to chart the course for the industry’s growth. Organised by IT & Telecom Digest Magazine, WAFICT 2013, with the theme, ‘Bringing Digital Dividends to West Africa: Tackling the Challenges Posed by Legal and Regulatory Frameworks’, the congress is a platform established to hear the governments and regulators in West Africa talk on their policies, plans, and strategies aimed at encouraging operators to bring digital dividends to people of the sub-region.

 

 

 

Source: Premium Times