Telcos seek licences to boost financial inclusion from CBN
Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has said operators have commenced discussion with the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, for licences to provide mobile payment services.
Executive Secretary, ALTON, Mr. Gbolahan Awonuga disclosed this at the third quarterly forum of the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA) in Lagos with theme:”Digital Payment: Prospects and Challenges of a Financially Inclusive Nigeria.”
Awonuga said that to fit into the mobile money platform, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) graciously agreed that the operators should get the super agent license from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The telecommunications’ companies, according to him, have to operate on subsidiary names, which are not the telecommunications companies’ names.
“They are working on getting the licences already. Globacom recently launched its mobile money platform, so the operators are already keying in to boost financial inclusion. The telecommunications’ companies have been doing so much on electronic payment. We are going for licence for e-payment.
”Nigeria is lagging behind so much in mobile payment, and this is obvious in the rural areas.
”So the telecommunications operators want to bridge the gap that the country has in financial inclusion,” he added.
Awonuga said that there was the need to boost local content in the country hence; the local content policy should be implemented to grow the economy.
This statement was reinforced recently by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya while delivering a paper with the theme: ‘The Role of Communications Industry in Economic Growth’ in Lagos during the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting.
Ogunsanya called the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) to consider issuing mobile money licenses to telecommunications companies, saying they have the capacity to make the most impact in Nigeria’s quest to have financial services spread across the country as a result of its huge coverage.
The Airtel boss argued that it is the only telecom companies that can deliver financial inclusion to all Nigerians, considering the massive number of telecom subscribers in the country.
“The non inclusion of telcos in the mobile money licensing by the Central Bank of Nigeria is the major limitation to the uptake of mobile money in Nigeria. The CBN needs to look at this again,” he stressed.
He argued further that even the most widely spread bank in Nigeria with 700 branches does not have the capacity to deliver banking services to all Nigerians, unlike the smallest telco with over 17 million subscribers.
Ogunsanya added that mobile money is successful in Kenya today because Mpesa, which is acclaimed to be the most thriving mobile money platform in Africa, is being driven by Safaricom, a telecom company.
L- R: Esther Oladipo, Process Analyst [Snacks] UAC Foods Ltd; Onuorah Francis, overall winner in Chemistry from Abibat Mogaji Millennium Senior Secondary School with 95 percent; Mr Larry Ettah, GMD/CEO, UACN; Mrs Ako Hannah Amaju, Director of Administration Education district 1 Agege and Olajide Oluwafemi, Chemical Analyst, Dairies Category UAC Foods Ltd, at the closing ceremony of UAC Goodness league free weekend Classes… in Lagos
Tony Nwakaegho
