The Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Tunde Lemo, has said that the current mass deployment of information technology infrastructure by Chams will be a critical factor to enhance credit systems in the financial services in the country.

Lemo, who made this remark as the special guest of honour at the inauguration of the Abuja ChamsCity on Wednesday, noted that as elsewhere, IT infrastructure remained a critical factor by which Nigeria’s drive for economic leadership could be achieved.

ChamsCity is a network of digital centres planned nationwide to help provide connectivity, e-payment and identification solutions to Nigerians.

Already, the facilities in Abuja and Lagos have been certified as the largest digital centres in the world by the Guinness Book of Records.

Lemo, who traced the history of Chams as a wholly owned Nigerian IT firm, expressed belief that with the type of initiative the firm had taken to create IT platforms for electronic banking, e-commerce and e-payment generally, the vision of Nigeria to become one of the 20 leading economies in the world would become a reality. He said he was not surprised at the achievement of Chams, knowing the firm’s antecedent in the area of ICT solutions.

He noted that with a facility of the magnitude of ChamsCity, Nigeria, as Africa’s most populous country, was set to take a prime place in world economic space.

He said, “As we prepare to have unique identification for everyone in this country, as we prepare to unleash the potential of consumer credit, there is no way we can achieve without using IT and part of the technology being showcased by Chams is very necessary.”

Lemo expressed satisfaction with the fact that the National Identification Management Commission had embraced the scheme and was also expecting other relevant organisations, agencies and the credit registries to partner with Chams. This is so that through their technology, Nigeria could develop robust databank and allied solutions that would give adequate and secured information about individuals to access credit in the financial services sector.

He noted that the only way the country could grow was to involve the mass of the population in economic and banking culture driven by ICT tools.

Of particular attraction to Lemo is the biometric features of the ChamsCity database that captures data of individuals with the system, the incidences of fraud in credit systems, he believed would be minimised if not eliminated.

Lemo, while giving the full commitment and support of the CBN to Chams Plc and her various innovations, enjoined all agencies to partner with partner with Chams so that the country could develop and attain the Millennium Development Goals.

The Group Managing Director, Chams, Mr. Demola Aladekomo, disclosed that plans were on to open more centres in the country.

Over 28 more are expected to be inaugurated within the next one year to provide cutting edge services like e-recruitment, e-ticketing, large scale registration, bills payment, e-banking and on-line examinations among others.

Aladekomo restated the company’s commitment to deploying about 10,000 automatic teller machines, 50,000 Point of Sale machines and 25,000 ChamsAccess terminals in year 2009 in the course of execution of the various projects nationwide.

Aladekomo said he strongly believed that for the rule of law and the fight against corruption of the present government to succeed and have true meaning, Nigerians must have distinct identity.

He said that in furtherance of that objective, the firm currently maintained a good working relationship with the NIMC and INEC and other relevant agencies.

The firm, he added, was also leading a number of innovations in the country.(by Jonah Iboma, Punch)