RECENTLY, an expert on e-business observed “the electronic method of payment comes with a lot of convenience and save people a lot of trouble. So. people are becoming more aware of the electronic payment and everybody is now looking at what can be done to expand this system of business”.
It could be inferred from the above observation that the Nigerian economic climate is enthusiastic to embrace e-payment technology. Sadly, slow is the pace of doing business on-line since e-payment system was launched in the banking sector of the economy. At the time, many enthusiastic industry chieftains had expressed hopes of fast transformation of the sector and growth of the economy, as its future prospects are linked with a solid e-payment technology. However, the expected geometric growth of the new technology is being bogged down by a combination of factors.
Experts list these snags:
PUBLIC education and acceptability– Jim Ovia, MD/CEO, Zenith Bank Plc.
They also provides loyalty skills and transportation solutions for anybody that needs such services. The major challenges I think the country is having now is lack of basic infrastructure. Apart from the infrastructural challenge, we also have the issue of lack of awareness, because the e-payment system is still new, the needed awareness is not there. I don’t think the banks are driving it to make sure they give the people that they need to drive the e-payment successfully, the necessary coverage.
Platform security, a major challenge
Mrs. Christiana Atabansi, electronic channels and field support manager, Ecobank Nigeria Plc. I think the challenges of e-payment in the country is security. For it to take off successful, you just have to make sure that your platform is secured so that no hagger can hag into it. But the best things about e-payment is that you can do all sort of things such as internet banking where you can do your payment through the web.
Source: vanguard
The next step to drive card usage in the country is intensive and extensive public education and awareness creation. The pervasiveness of e-payment systems would lead to crashing of all transaction costs and near-total extinction of all barriers to financial transaction.
Power, and security a major problem of e-payment
James Agada, Managing Director of Expert Edge which is a part of computer warehouse group. If you are looking at e-payment, the challenge is really that of acceptability. Can you go to Yaba market and pay with a card? Out of 140 million Nigerians, how many have cards? The acceptability deserves to be a function of education, people need to be educated on how to use it.
It is also a function of accessibility in the sense that if you have the card, where can you use it? Why don’t the woman in the market accept it? Is it because she does not like it or is it because she can’t pay for the device that she can use to accept your card? So now that’s another issue about accessibility. How many locations are you giving out there?
When you start looking at accessibility, you start looking at infrastructure. This is also an issue because, where is the communication? All these and the issue of what can I do with the card as it is not just about making payment and collecting cash. It is about being able to buy things.
Lack of infrastructure and awareness are major problems of e-payment in the country
Mr. Charles Akinmade, Managing Director, Electronic Transaction Solutions, which provides e-transact solutions on mobile point of sale terminals for the banking industry.
