Chams News

Chams Plc, Nigeria’s home grown ICT firm with pioneer status in identity management, payment and transactional services has unveiled yet another strategic business unit- ChamsVarsity. A decision made to fulfill its promise of providing world class information technology education.
The setting up of ChamsVarsity is an extension of the company’s vision of creating a strong army of well equipped and knowledgeable ICT professionals who will champion Nigeria’s emergence as an ICT super power.
Dean of ChamsVarsity, Mrs. Omoyemi Oluleye, affirmed this by saying that ChamsVarsity has presently designed a curriculum that extends beyond the technical aspect of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), but comprises techno-management courses for industry requirements.
Chams Varsity would boost training modules mapped out to cater for ICT training needs of individual students seeking basic computer knowledge and ICT professionals desirous of filling knowledge gaps or updating ICT skills of their staff especially in the core areas where Chams Plc has core competence, which is identity management, payment and transactional systems, card technology and software development. She noted that this follows on the heels of its pioneering ChamsVarsity management trainee programme; a 5-year old management course with a vast and multi-faceted curriculum.
“We have been training our staff as well as staff from other companies requiring our expertise for years and we finally realized that with our purpose built ChamsCity complexes across Nigeria, over 4,000 internet ready workstations and a corps of well qualified ICT facilitators, we could provide Nigerians with a world class ICT training facility comparable to the best anywhere in the world,” she said.
She pointed out that the institution located inside the multi-purpose ChamsCity buildings in Abuja, Lagos, Benin and Port Harcourt, boasts of a world class faculty with staff drawn from premier ICT universities in the world as well as curriculum that will prepare its students for excellent rich and rewarding career especially in areas of networking, project management, management information systems, amongst others.
Chams Plc with this forte adds another feather to its innovative and pioneering hat.

THE Board of Directors of Supercard Limited has announced the voluntary retirement of the pioneer chairman of the company, Prof. Adebayo Dada Akinde.

In the same token, the board has announced the appointment of Mr. Demola Aladekomo as the new chairman.

Akinde is a renowned professor of Computer Science from the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife (OAU). He is reputed to have propelled the company through extensive research and development (R&D), sound leadership and corporate governance culture from a financial loss-making position to profitability.

The professor said he "had to leave the stage for a young, energetic and dynamic successor to lead the company to even greater heights and profitability, increased market share and relevance in world Technologies"

Aladekomo, referred to as a genius with irrepressible appetite for birthing and adapting technologies with a burning desire to make Nigeria the technological hub of the world, is a versatile and successful Computer Engineer with over 25 years experience.

He is the pioneer Managing Director of Chams Plc, a company that is reputed to have contributed immensely to the technological advancement of Nigeria.

Chams Plc under Aladekomo is responsible for developing several groundbreaking technologies in Nigeria, the conceptualization and formation of Valucard Plc, the first electronic card payment firm, that involved several banks in Nigeria. Chams is reputed to have set up the largest card personalization plant in the world in its Abuja office with the capacity to produce 1.75 million cards per day. Chams Plc recently placed Nigeria on the world map when two of its Chams Cities (digital mall and online transaction centres) in Lagos and Abuja were certified by the Guinness Book of World records as the largest centres in the world.

Commenting on the development, the Managing Director of Supercard Ltd. Mr. Femi Williams was full of glowing appreciation to the outgoing chairman whom he described as having led the company to such enviable heights. Williams also said with an air of assurance that, he had no doubt about the quality of leadership that Aladekomo, the new chairman, would be bringing to the firm.

Supercard Limited, a member of Chams Plc group of companies, has grown over the years to become an active player in the identification and electronic-payment space. The company is reputed to possess the best skills and competence in biometrics technology in Nigeria. These skills have been deployed successfully to assist many state governments, educational institutions and embassies in Nigeria.

Supercard is known to have pioneered the issuance of multi- application cards in Nigeria while also in the advanced stage of launching what promises to be a revolutionary new card scheme to be called SmartID. SmartID will be the first real multi-application smart card with several solutions on one card.

(The Guardian, January 13, 2010 )             

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has granted two Nigerian firms, Chams Access Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Chams Plc, and Cooperative Support Services, licenses to operate Independent Automated Teller Machine consortium services.
 A statement from the firm described the development as a continuation of plans by the apex bank to remove the ownership and control of ATMs located outside banking premises (off-site ATMs) from commercial banks and hand them over to independent firms.
The CBN, in a circular issued on April 8, 2009, had set the deadline for June 30, 2009 for banks to hands-off control of the off-site ATMs and invited bids from interested firms to take over control of the machines.
However, it became apparent to the apex bank that this date was not feasible and subsequently moved the deadline to March 31, 2010. The CBN, through another circular issued on August 27, 2009, subsequently stated that the extension of the deadline became necessary in order to ensure success of the exercise and proper commencement of operations of the emerging consortia.
The circular said the apex bank was taking appropriate steps to facilitate the appointment of a number of ATM consortia to effect the current policy of redeploying offsite ATMs, adding that it had received applications from some registered financial companies in this regard.
Besides Chams and CSS, other firms that applied include Nigeria‘s leading transaction switching firm, Interswitch Nigeria Limited, Computer Warehouse Group, Value card Nigeria and XL Management Nigeria Limited. Others are International Payment Devices Limited, Infotech Nigeria and Joe Hans Technologies Limited.
A copy of the license issued by the CBN, dated December 14, 2009, said the firms, Chams and CSS, had been granted Approval-in-Principle to each of the firms to operate as ATM consortium in Nigeria. It added that it would, however, conduct a post-Approval-in-Principle visit to the firms in April 2010 to ensure their readiness and compliance with our requirements.
The statement added that a major reason for the issuance of the new licenses was the failure of ATM-Consortium Limited to effectively deploy machines in sufficient numbers across the country for use. Out of the 8,567 ATMs installed in Nigeria so far, ATM Consortium accounts for just 145, which translates to 1.7 per cent.
So far, United Bank for Africa Plc leads in ATM deployment with 1,577 and is followed by Intercontinental Bank Plc with 1,327 and First Bank with 1,065. Given the fact that approximately 60 per cent of ATMs installed are at non-banking locations, ATM Consortium still accounts for a meagre eight per cent of installed ATMs, a situation that means that banks are still in-charge of over 97 per cent of non-banking site machines.
The Head, Cooperate Affairs, Chams Plc, Mr. Idowu Logile, confirmed the issuance of the license to he firm by CBN, noting that the development represented a major accomplishment for the firm. He added that the firm had been in the forefront of electronic payment in Nigeria and that it had planned to deploy over 5,000ATMs across the country within a short period.
He added that besides the ATM machines, Chams had also secured $26m funding for the deployment of additional 40,000 points of transaction terminals across Nigeria. He said these new additions would make electronic payment machines much closer to Nigerians in the country.

(Daily Champion, January 3, 2010.)

 

Chams PLC , the Information and Communication Technology firm, has been assigned a ”Bbb”rating  by Agusto & Co, the world acclaimed research and credit rating company. Agusto says the triple B rating reflects strong attributes of Chams PLC including adequate working capital, low leverage and stable management. The rating also takes into account Chams’ declining but satisfactory profitability and weak operating cash flows resulting from high trade debts because of delays in payments on public sector contracts, which however suggest a stable outlook for Chams.

Incorporated on September 10, 1985 as Chams Nigeria Limited and operating in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry, Chams converted to a public limited company in 2007.  The Nigerian Stock Exchange listed its shares on its main board on September 2, 2008, creating a new division to accommodate the new entrant.The Company successfully raised N7.8billion capital in 2008 to fund its expansion plans. With the fresh injection of capital, Chams has floated two new subsidiaries, invested in new infrastructure and equipment across its business units and subsidiaries.  Moving ahead, the company plans to set up 30 digital malls with a combined capacity of 30,000 units of networked Apple PCs in its world acclaimed Chamscity Digital malls. Two ChamsCity Digital Malls are already functional in Lagos and Abuja.

Operations at Chams have evolved over the years from computer maintenance and networking services to the supply and provision of card based technology products and services. Chams’ business is structured into five business units comprising Public Sector and Projects; Terminals & Printers; Chams.net and ChamsCity plus the Data Centre. The Company has six subsidiaries namely; Supercard Nigeria Limited, CardCentre Nigeria Limited, ChamsAccess Limited, Chams Mobile Limited, and ChamsSwitch Limited. PayMaster Nigeria Limited is also affiliated to Chams Plc.

The rating of Chams Plc (“Chams” or “the Company”) reflects the Company’s adequate working capital, low leverage and stable management. The rating also takes into account the Company’s declining but satisfactory profitability and weak operating cash flows resulting from high trade debts on account of delays in payments by the public sector contractees. We believe that outlook for Chams is stable.

In 2008, the Company successfully raised ₦7.8 billion capital to fund its expansion plans. With the fresh injection of capital, Chams has floated two new subsidiaries; invested in new infrastructure and equipment across its business units and subsidiaries. Going forward, the Company plans to set up thirty digital malls with a combined capacity of 30,000 networked Apple computer units. As at December 2009, two digital malls have been established in Lagos and Abuja. The Company was incorporated on 10 September, 1985 as Chams Nigeria Limited operating in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry. Chams converted to a public limited liability company in 2007 and its shares were listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on 2 September 2008.

Over the years, the Company’s operations have evolved from computer maintenance and networking services to the supply and provision of card based technology products and services. Chams’ business is structured into five business units comprising Public sector and Projects; Terminals & Printers; Chams.net and ChamsCity and the Data Centre. The Company has six subsidiaries namely Supercard Nigeria Limited (88%), Card Centre Nigeria Limited (99%), ChamsAccess Limited (100%), Chams Mobile Limited (100%) and Chams Switch Limited (100%). Chams Plc is also affiliated to Paymaster Nigeria Limited (38%).

Unlike the first edition of the Chams Theatre Series where English and Yoruba adaptations of D.O. Fagunwa's ‘Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmole' by dramatists Femi Osofisan and Akinwumi Isola ran once in four cities, this year's edition will have an extended run.

‘Ireke Onibudo: The Fabulous Adventures of A Sugarcane Man' and ‘Agbara Ife', the English and Yoruba adaptations of Fagunwa's ‘Ireke Onibudo' by the same playwrights, will be unveiled in 11 performances times in four cities.

Osofisan's adaptation, directed by Tunde Awosanmi, will premiere at the National Theatre, Lagos, on Saturday, November 7 while Isola's adaptation, directed Kola Oyewo, will premiere the following day at the same venue.

Computer Hardware and Maintenance Services (Chams) Plc, an Information and Communication Technology (ICT), company came up with the initiative last year, in a bid to revive live theatre and promote cultural values in Nigeria.

‘Ogboju Ode...' the first offering, toured Ibadan, Ile-Ife, Lagos and Abuja. Akure is replacing Ile-Ife on the production itinerary this year; and the Yoruba adaptation will only show in Lagos, Ibadan and Akure (in Fagunwa's home state of Ondo).

Similarly, there will be special screenings for students in all the four cities to allow them to experience live theatre and share in its appeals and tradition.

A strategic intervention

In a speech read on his behalf by Idowu Logile, ahead of a preview of the play on Friday, October 16 at the University of Ibadan, Chams managing director Demola Aladekomo, explained that promoting positive values is still the focus of the intervention.

"We are glad to restate that the Chams Theatre Series is a strategic intervention and contribution to the rejuvenation of the arts and stage culture in Nigeria. It is also a means of promoting our culture and re-orientating Nigerians to the values that we hold dear. We believe those values should propel action in our society," Aladekomo said.

Onerous task

Osofisan, the consultant to Chams on the series, disclosed that it was not easy translating and adapting the story for the stage.

For those who might have expected ‘Igbo Olodumare' to be adapted this year, Osofisan explained that he and Isola chose ‘Ireke Onibudo' because ‘Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmole...' and its sequel, ‘Igbo Olodumare', are about a hunter- soldier, unlike ‘Ireke Onibudo' which is about a normal person.

The renowned playwright also explained how he settled for the title of his adaptation. "Literarily it could mean the ‘The Sugarcane of the Camp Guardian, or of the Camp Settler, or of the Head of the House', etc. These translations, however, would not make sense in the context in which Fagunwa employs it.

So I had to look further than this. And I found out, from Yoruba scholars such as Pa Faleti and my collaborator Akinwumi Isola that the more familiar use of this term is in ‘Kiniun Onibudo', which is to be found in the oriki of the famous war General of Ibadan, Balogun Ogunmola.

"The more I thought about this, therefore, the more convinced I became, that Fagunwa must have had this oriki in mind, in deciding on the title of his book.

Since kiniun (lion) refers to a warrior, and the main topic of his own book is not war but love, I believe it was just logical (and brilliant) for him to look for substitute for ‘kiniun', and so came to the equivalent in ‘ireke' (sugarcane)".

Osofisan commended Chams for choosing to sustain public interest in Fagunwa's works and reviving cultural heritage. "This is very unique, and boldly unusual, in Nigeria's experience of art sponsorship... [Chams] offers, free to live audiences, a vivid experience of theatre that our people yearn for everywhere, but which for various reasons has become very rare to see these days in our cities," he said.

Do your own

The respected Isola also acknowledged Fagunwa's creativity and echoed Osofisan by stating that doing the adaptation was no tea party. "Fagunwa was not constrained by time and convention in the novel form. He could have gone on and on! But stage performance is incredibly constrained by time, space, and the law of gravity."

He added, "You must have read the novel to be able to appreciate the adaptation. These are two adaptations from one source material. I hope that you find it interesting. If you are not happy with the adaptation, do your own." (Akintayo Abodunrin, next Newspaper)

In a renewed vigour to providing enabling platform for businesses to thrive, using ICT and latest training facilities, ChamsCity, a business unit of Chams Plc began a 5 – day partnership training programs with Microsoft through which Microsoft would train its technical partners and developers.
Mrs. Oluwatominiyi Doubra, Deputy Manager, Marketing,  ChamsCity, speaking on the choice of  ChamsCity for the training said that what attracted the software producing company was the fact that ChamsCity has the necessary facility needed for the in-depth training the computer giant wanted.
“ChamsCity becomes Microsoft’s beautiful bride because it has all what is needed to achieve what Microsoft wanted to achieve through the training. Without being modest, I can confidently say that we are the most equipped and efficient training center in the world and in fact listed in the Guinness Book of Record. We have over 2000 systems, with two centres in Lagos and training.
Corporate organizations have also latched on it to enhance their recruitment and testing process, all because it is a lot easier and convenient.” She said.
On the gain from the partnership, the Deputy Manager stated that the partnership would make it possible for ChamsCity to provide its services and products to the participants, who would be a link between the organisation and other members of the public.
Also speaking, Mrs. Florence Aromolaran, who described the partnership as symbiotic in nature, disclosed that many organizations in Nigeria are in partnership with the company so as to get the kind of facility offered in the advanced nations, while adding, she said, “as part of the business concern of Chams Plc, ChamsCity provides infrastructure to drive e-payment, transaction and identity management.”
She also disclosed that effort is being put in place to extend beyond Abuja and Lagos to places like Port Harcourt, Benin, Ibadan and Enugu.
On the gain of the training, Mr. Serge Ntamark, Microsoft’s Intellectual Property Manager, said the aim of the training is to update their technical specialists on Microsoft’s solutions and new development.
He also stated that the training would help the trade partners to know how best to sell and how to apply better solutions.
It would be recalled that the company in collaborations with other organizations, recently deploy the use of Information Technology (IT) to improve the efficiency of the legal practice in Nigeria.

Chams PLC ,Intel Corporations , Technology Advisor and  Veda have come together to deploy the use of Information Technology (IT) to improve the efficiency of the legal practice in Nigeria.

The President, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu made the announcement that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) was working with technology partners to revolutionise the NBA environment with Information Technology (IT) saying that lawyers were not left out in the Information Technology trend.

He added that an IT revolution tagged Digital Bar Initiative (DBI) recently launched would help to stern most of the problems facing the legal practice in the country.

He stressed that the initiative would help eradicate fake lawyer syndrome, cumbersome verification process and the non-accessibility to legal resources and general information.

While explaining DBI, Managing Partner, Technology Advisor (TA) and Chairman, DBI Mr. Basil Udotai said that the DBI was specifically developed and would be implemented with its technology and services partners to deliver a number of functionality such as identification and authentication of lawyers, access to legal resources and general information, communication and interaction.

He also stressed that it would help in transaction and payment, access to remote services, technology acquisition scheme and Internet connectivity

He added that more than 60 per cent of fake lawyers were individuals who undertook various stages of legal education, but without completing to the point of call.

"Some even took law school exams a few times and being frustrated with their inability to pass very tough and rigorous exams, decide to move to remote parts of the country to practice law. Others are just bold faced criminals who never even came close to the corridors of the Faculty of Law or the law school," he said.

"No matter how close you come, unless you are called to the Bar, you are not eligible to act as a legal practitioner in Nigeria. This is not just a professional limitation but also a question of law as the Legal Practitioners Act makes this point abundantly clear," he added.

According to him, the DBI was aimed to eradicate lawyers in the country through its system of identification and authentication via credential of an immutable, traceable bar card.

"We are happy to partner with Chams Plc in this regard whose reputation and expertise in this area is unquestionable," he said.

He also added that the initiative would also deliver on a portal that would host a large repository of legal contents where members could access to enhance their research and legal services delivery as well as specialisation.

Also on the portal, he said that general information of interest would be made available to members as well as links to unlimited array of resources that lawyers would find interesting, personally and professionally.

He emphasised that the portal would explore all available communication technology to ease communication amongst lawyers adding that several web-based communication solutions like Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) would make communication easy, cheap and possibly free for lawyers on the portal.

He said that one key deliverable of the DBI was the ability to make payments such as professional fees, conference charges, cost of legal training or materials and other transactional needs.

"We understand from the NBA that it will help a great deal if they can check and immediately confirm how many members have paid their professional fees. This is possible and will be delivered through the DBI," he said.

On access to remote services, he said that DBI would approach the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and seek a technical integration of its systems to enable lawyers on its portal access and conduct a range of services at the CAC without having to physically present at the CAC's headquarters.

He stated that the DBI was a programme that was built for every lawyer in the country and said that the capacity of the country's lawyers to acquire computers to be able to use the initiative was a crucial concern for TA adding that efforts had been made to develop a workable arrangement in which every lawyer would be able to acquire very sophisticated and sleek VEDA computer systems, not only at affordable costs, but also through various schemes to make it easy for both their employers and the lawyers themselves.

The Chairman said that TA had developed a programme for bulk purchases of Internet access that would be distributed across the country to lawyers at discounted rates so as to strengthening the efficiency and the effectiveness of the legal practice.

"It is a thing of great pride for me to live and see this day that our profession is making a well-coordinated in-road into the Information Communication and Technology (ICT) environment," he said.

BRIDGING the digital divide between Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and the legal profession, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has launched the Digital Bar Initiative (DBI) aimed at bringing together men of the profession.

Specifically, the Digital Bar Initiative, a joint effort of both the NBA and Technology Advisor (TA) will be making use of a portal with the use of an automated card like the popular automatic teller machine (ATM), that will portray the identity of every registered member of the law profession.

According to the President of the NBA, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, at the official launch of the scheme in Lagos recently, it is a key technology project aimed at re-positioning the legal profession that will bring everybody closer.

Akeredolu said the card is designed to guard against fake lawyers who go about practicing without adequate licence to do so.

"There many people who roam our courts today and actually represent clients' cases, but whose only claim to the legal profession is the fact they are endowed with a sense of talkativeness and reckless bravado, and have enough money to purchase a set of wig and gown! These people have poisoned our professional integrity, caused unwarranted embarrassment to the bar.

"It is the sincere desire of my administration to put an end to the so-called fake lawyer syndrome, and save our noble profession and unsuspecting justice-seeking clients from the embarrassment arising from the activities of these charlatans called fake lawyers. To enable us achieve this, we have turned to technology," stated the NBA president.

He explained that with the DBI, they should enroll every Nigerian lawyer with a unique identity and issue him or her PINs, upon which credentials a Bar Card will be issued to them.

The Bar Card, he said, will be issued by CHAMS Plc, a technology partner and that it will carry a chip, which will be embedded, not only with the biometrics of the lawyers but also other key information that relate to details of their professional qualifications, like the year of call, enrolment number, the university attended, the law school campus attended, any former names, incase of people that have married or for whatever reason legitimately have changed their names and so on.

Arguably, he said the Bar Card is not a stand-alone credentials that anyone who knows what it looks like can go and reproduce with his picture on it. "It is part of a trust system, which will have the functionality of authentication."

The Senior Advocate stressed that identity is a big part of the DBI, but that it does not stop there, "we are concerned about the slow pace with which our profession as a whole is embracing technology. Most law firms in the country do not have basic law practice management software to power their legal services."

He further explained that the DBI Bar Card is not just a card, but a General Multi Purpose Card (GMPC), which will enable a range of transactions and payment, stressing that one of the few things the NBA had suffered difficulties managing was the logistics around payment.

Akeredolu added that the DBI would now make the NBA more accountable and transparent in their dealings, adding that the portal will also serve as an enabler for interaction amongst the lawyers just like Facebook, the popular online community.

In his own address, the Managing Partner and Chairman DBI, Basil Udotai, said the DBI came at the time the ills of the global economic recession had just become clear and things had gotten worse and on the minds of everyone was the issue of how much credit system in general and abuse of credit cards in particular led to this near collapse of the global economic system.

Udotai said that the DBI technology has the following as its key functionalities: Identity and authentication of lawyers; access to legal resources and general information; communication and interaction; transactions and payment.

Others are remote services; technology acquisition scheme and Internet connectivity.

Explaining further, he said they discovered that more than 60 per cent of fake lawyers are actually individuals who undertook various stages of legal education, but without completing to the point of call, that some even took law school exams but could not finish because of the toughness. He said the DBI is aimed to eradicate fake lawyers through the system of identification and authentication, with the credential of an immutable, traceable Bar Card.

Furthermore, the DBI chairman said on the portal will also be general information of interest which would be made available to members as well as links to unlimited array of resources that lawyers would find interesting, personally and professionally. He added that the DBI portal would explore all available communication technology to ease communication among lawyers.

Also, that the technology will enable lawyers who have transactional needs meet them as and when due, such as the payment of professional fees.

Udotai added that the capacity of lawyers to acquire computers have been worked out. This, he said, is in consonance with VEDA computer systems, not only at affordable costs, but also through various schemes that make payment.

"It is a great pride for me to live to see this day that our profession is making a well-coordinated in-road into the ICT environment," he stressed.

According to him, the portal will be sustained in the Nigerian typical environment, because they will be working in partnership with CHAMS to secure it and that the funds will be available to keep the system working.

Udotai, who said this will give an indisputable credentials to lawyers that they can use to signify their membership of the noble profession, added that this will rub positively on the Nigerian economy, in the sense that the more people are online, the more efficient the system is, because online is an enabler that help a lot.

For its continuous development of innovative card based solutions, leading technology company, Chams Plc., has secured five awards at the just concluded Card Expo 2009.
At a ceremony held in Lagos, the Managing Director of Chams Plc, Mr Demola Aladekomo picked up  the award for the most outstanding individual contribution to the development of card technologies in Nigeria.
Also Chams Plc bagged the Card Expo Platinum award, while other subsidiaries of the firm- ChamsSwitch and CardCentre- bagged gold awards.
Supercard Limited, a subsidiary of the firm that specialises in card personalisation solutions got the Silver Award at the event.
Speaking following the awards, Aladekomo said the firm was elated to be so recognized for its contributions not only to the electronic payment industry but also in information technology growth in general in Nigeria.
He added that the firm was focused on identity management as the way to build a credible economy and that this was informed the great interest the firm had showed in developing related solutions in the country.
It would be recalled that Guinness Book of Records in 2008 recognised Chams as having the world’s largest digital mall when the firm commissioned the two malls in Lagos and Abuja, which have over 1,000 computers each.
Only last week the firm signed an agreement with Daewoo Corporation and Bitel Limited both from South Korea to deploy 40,000 point of transaction terminals across the country.
The project, which is worth $26m would be the largest single deployment of such terminals in Nigeria and would be overseen by Paymaster Limited, a subsidiary of Chams specializing in deploying electronic payment solutions.
(The Nation NewsPaper)