Oluwatoyin Jokosenumi, an engineer, is the Head, Programme Office, Financial System Strategy 2020, created 10 years ago to help re-organise the critical sectors of the economy for a faster economic development. In this interview with DGossip247 on the side-line of the recent E-Government Summit organised by the E-Payment Providers Association of Nigeria (E-PPAN), Jokosenumi discussed the place of e-government in fast-tracking the attainment of FSS 2020 objectives, among others. Excerpts:
The Federal Government, 10 years ago, set up Financial System Strategy for Nigeria. What is this policy strategy actually about?
The Financial System Strategy for Nigeria is a platform that was created to re-start what I can describe as the low-side engine of our national economy. It is a platform that was created to kick-start a new development agenda in Nigeria so that Nigeria – a nation emerging, a nation developing, a nation full of potentials – can take its pride of place because we have all it takes to lead Africa.
The whole idea started 10 years ago, precisely in 2005, during the time of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Many people were aware of the potential of Nigeria and Nigerians all over the world. They came calling, this group from Goldman Saatchi, led by Jim O’Neill, who is the head of Asset Management of the bank.
They were the same group that had a research that predicted the emergence of the BRIC countries comprising Brazil, Russia, Indonesian and China, when they came out of the emerging markets and the countries joined the world powers and, of course, they were working on another one they call the ‘Next Eleven.’
The Next-Eleven countries were the group of countries that would emerge and join the BRICS and then join the super powers such that by 2025 or thereabout, we would have something like 25 powerful nations around the world that would be making significant contribution and developing all the continents.
So, two of the next eleven countries were ceded to Africa and one of it was ceded to be Nigeria and the other one could be Egypt. So, they came and had the discussion with the president. He was excited and said ‘what do I need to do?’ They told him he needed to grow his economy at a rate not less than 12 per cent annually consistently for 15 years and then do several other things. Ok, can we shorten the time if we are ready to roll up our sleeves? And they said ‘yes’ and so Obasanjo negotiated the time and the team brought it back to between 20 and 15 years. So, if you add 15 to 2005, you will arrive at 2020 and that was how we arrived at it.
So, the whole idea is for us to have a financial system strategy. It will be a strategy that will manage our financial system. Within the financial system, there are usually about five or six financial markets. What they call the markets may also be described in a simple language as sectors. You have, most importantly, the micro, small and medium-size enterprises sector. It is a market.
That is the engine of growth of the market. The second one is the mortgage market or sector that delivers housing needs for the people. The third one is insurance and this is one market we have not explored at all because we don’t even understand it. The fourth is pension, which is new, through which we started looking at how we can be saving for the rainy day for workers so that we can look after ourselves when we are old.
The policy around that was crafted by government in 2004. That’s another big sector that we need to manage. The fifth one is called the financial market itself, which comprises of banks and other financial institutions (OFIs). That is the biggest of our market and that one needed to be well structured. That consists of capital, stocks, money and all the banks. That is the sector where they operate.
What are the cardinal objectives for the country through FSS 2020?
We need to restructure all those sectors that I have listed earlier and so, the objectives of FSS 2020, generally speaking, were just three. The first is to reorganise the domestic financial market. You need to re-organise those sectors I have spoken about so that they can compete, collaborate and give them what it takes to create alliance and take advantage in other places. Secondly, when you have re-organised them properly, then you create windows such that you can have integration with similar markets in other parts of the world. So, you will sign MoUs and that is why you can see a Nigerian insurance company, for instance, trading with an insurance company in South Africa, Australia, Spain, News Zealand, in the US, Canada, anywhere, freely.
Then, the third objective is now to engender an evolution that will make this country a financial hub for Africa by building an international financial centre. Those are the tripartite objectives that we are pursuing. So, the necessity and reason for FSS 2020 became stronger when we look at the structure of our economy – everything from reforms, obsoleteness in terms of our laws, infrastructures, which are not there nay power, road, everything.
The only area we have done fairly well is telecoms and we still have a long way to go in that sector. The magic we did in telecoms and banking, if we can do it in other sectors, the sky will be the limit for Nigeria.
Your recent collaboration with E-Payment Providers Associations of Nigeria (E-PPAN) to discuss e-government role in the economy seems to have brought a new dimension to how FSS 2020 plans to achieve its objectives. What have you to say on this?
It is like you are asking me that there are several things to be done. What is the size of your labour? What can you do? How many people can I engage? Can you compare what technology can do to what individual can do? Can you compare the output of one person to the output of a machine, so when you are talking about e-government system, we are talking about using or creating a system that will enable us take advantage of technology to drive our processes so that we can have aped, high-quality, unified coded processes, do things within best practices and above all, we can be sure that things are done properly and without forgery. Indeed, it is going to help us in our fight against corruption.
Identity management system is vital for any country wishing to accelerate its economic development, but this has been a challenge in Nigeria with the disparate identity databases we have in the country. Is there any way FSS 2020 can help in this area?
That’s where we are going and that is the essence of e-government. You see, when people have no solution, they will begin to tinker out with whatever one that works. Rather than condemning the institutions that are embarking on those various initiatives, creating the databases for themselves to make their operations more convenient, we have to commend them because it is an initiative that is waking all others from their slumber.
Yes, the banks have the BVN, the National Identity Management has national identity, the Immigration has, the National Population Commission has, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has, now let us create a single platform, which is what the FSS 2020 is asking for. Let us harness all the benefits of this, let us bring all these together and from there, we move on to the next step. All the data that were collated from these various initiatives can be harnessed and put together and we can, out of it, have a clean record.
This is what we are looking for: determine a clean record and this will help us even in our march towards e-democracy, because the truth is that there is nothing in our life that does not require transformation into technology plane. Is if about health? We can never produce enough medical doctors. It is not possible. So, you need to find a way to look after people using such things as telemedicine that encourages collaboration through technology.
And, without doubt, we need a healthy citizenry for productivity. We are talking of education; people say the standard continues to fall. Standard will continue to look like falling if you are not taking advantage of technology, whereas, technol-ogy can allow you to acquire a degree in Oxford, UK, without flying through a plane.
You can sit down within the comfort of your room and you can download academic lectures, tutorials, send information, share knowledge and do what you want to do, that will help us. So, e-government, when fully integrated into the governance process in Nigeria, will create safety and reduce the burden on having to move from one place to another. So, a lot of things will fall in their various places.
Are we ready for such collaborations that will make us achieve effective-government implementation in this country?
To be honest with you, our problem is not about what to do; our problem is how to do and when to do, which is the bane of execution. We know what to do, all the policies, all the ideas that we need to transform Nigeria in one file or the other are somewhere. We know them.
Nigerians are good at writing the policies, at visioning, at taking down details, recommending it but when it comes to execution, there is problem and there are solutions in doing that. That is why the project management principles, the project management processes and frameworks are available for you to use. That is not a problem and those challenges can be circumvented in no time while appropriate response plans are put in place and we will be on our way to success.
The seventh National Assembly passed three major bills that relate to financial services development into law. What should Nigerians expect from these legal instruments with their full enforcement?
Three out of the four bills are the Financial Ombudsman Service Bill. That is the bill that will help us to resolve conflict and better manage disputes in the financial sector among the users of the financial services. For instance, from banks, we have a lot of complaints. People have wrong debits. People’s interests were not properly transferred. Dividends were not paid.
Monies were wrongly charged. Services were poorly rendered. All of these simple matters that can be handled instead of taking them to the courts are things that make our courts to be overloaded with responsibilities as such cases are caught up in litigation technicalities. They are little issues that can be resolved. We need an institution like that, which can address such issues promptly. Get in touch with the stakeholders, create an interface, invite the customers, have a oneon- one discussion, resolve out of court and everybody moves on.
That’s what Financial Ombudsman offers and it is application in all the sub-sectors of the financial services. The second one is the Electronic Transactions Bill. It is the bill that will give us the opportunity to be able to use electronic information as evidence in the court of law. As we speak, the court does not admit electronic evidence. So, this is the law that will compel them to accept electronic evidences in the court of law because we can never go fully into e-government without having electronic laws. The third one is the Nigeria International Financial Centre Bill.
That is the bill that will enable us to have a quarantined environment like the one in Dubai or England where we can invite international investors, who will come and do businesses and move away with their gains and where issues will come up and such issues will be resolved at that level.
So, with the bill passed into law, international investors do not need to mingle any issue they have with the domestic court issues in the country. If an HSBC comes in, for instance, and operates in our international financial centre, they will operate as if they are operating in London. When there are issues, it will be resolved there, there are authorities, there are regulatory institutions that will manage all of that. With that bill coming into force as law, those are the advantages you stand to get.
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