Comrade Adede John Williams, the President of the Association of Telecommunications, Information Technology, Cable Satellite Network Operators and Allied Services Employers’ of Nigeria (ATICEN), has called on the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Olayemi Michael Cardoso, to consider putting an industry-centric policy in place while promulgating and promoting policy in the cash-less and digital economy of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, as promised.
The Governor of CBN must have a full understanding that having the power to formulate policies is never a given passport to slew sectorial businesses under the CBN Olayemi Cardoso’s watch. He must know for a fact, that for him to achieve any technological industry-driven policy that doesn’t guarantee business-friendly policy will definitely not move to industry or sector forward and therefore the Governor of CBN as the policymaker, for which, some part of the Fintech services is under his watch, had to be mindful and make secure that any policy that they (Himself and His Team) tend to formulate should be eco- business-friendly and nothing else.
He said that the Governor of CBN should take it easy by having the understanding that formulating overlapping policies will not give a level playing field that should be accorded to the Fintech service providers operating in Nigeria, and also try to study the Fintech ecosystem before making policy regulation on Fintech related activities in the country, if not, his policy formulation will end-up carnage the sector that could’ve been helping to manage the CBN financial inclusion initiative in Nigeria, and, the Governor of CBN, has to call for a critical stakeholders engagement meeting with the Fintech and ICT industry stakeholders to achieve his said gold.
He added that he should focus more on promoting financial inclusion for the financially underserved, rather than feeder policies that is capable of bringing down the wonderful and laudable Digital Financial Inclusion initiative of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, promised to the electronic and digital financial service providers.
Let me use this medium to professionally advise the Governor of CBN to look inward, beyond this unfriendly regulation for Fintech and place a focal point on how to formulate policy that would promote long-term loans and encourage institutional partnership with the commercial and microfinance banks and make policies that could be of benefits to the Fintech and ICT service providers as that will boost the financial digital technology ecosystem space and help the next stage of growth in the Technological environment for all.
Comrade John Williams said that Fintechs are also having challenges due to the corporate governance policies structure by CBN. The Governor of CBN must understand that some of the Fintech start-up service providers are small businesses, and they don’t have strong corporate structures that could match up with the commercial banks, so we all must understand that Fintech start-ups cannot be compared with commercial banks and therefore, Fintech should be given special attention regarding the financial inclusion support initiatives of the Federal Government. If not, some of these regulations may create encumbrances for the Start-ups and end up killing this particular sector of the economy, instead of creating jobs, we will end up losing jobs in the long run.
Williams, further stated, that at this point, instead of creating more vestiges of the business environment for the Fintech and other Technological businesses, what is important is the fact that the formulation of policies must be eco-business friendly, and must recognize the fact that the Fintech ecosystem is technologically driven for the unbanked populations and was imitated by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the policymakers must see the need to carry along all stakeholders in the ecosystem value chain, in order not to come up with policies and regulations that will worsen the wonderful innovation by the Fintech players and the achievement as so far recorded in the sector. We the industry stakeholders is always ready and committed to striving to deliver positive economic impacts and contribute to the economy’s sustainable development of the country where we will join hands with the regulators to build up a strong business environment for the sector.
He said that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the direct supervision of Dr. Olayemi Michael Cardoso, should see the need of implementing a flexible regulatory policy and benchmark by way of downward review of the operational licenses fees for the tech start-ups, digital banking services providers and entrepreneurs to test business ideas on viability and as well as getting easy access to funds as a way of supporting the start-ups ecosystem, as this will be in line with this current government administration mantra who has promised keep on supporting the start-ups ecosystem who have business ideas and solutions but lack funds and immediate ability to meet up the stringent regulation requirements as that could further provide an enabling environment that will deepen technology growth and unlock opportunities through credit guarantee scheme and Credit Facility (long-term loans) with viable regulations in place for more innovations , start-ups technology-driven system and ICT ecosystem to thrive in the country, he added
