5 May 2009
The commencement of the Electronic Payment system in all Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in January was to introduce cashless regime in all government's transactions with the aim of hastening and quickening payments to the beneficiaries.
The concept has been described as a welcome novelty. However, its implementation has been dogged by controversies.
When the new system was announced, many civil servants did not receive their salary on time and those who did were either short-changed or were given someone else's pay. The story has not changed up till now.
Now, the popular slogan when a payment is delayed in any government establishment "E-payment" is at work.
The question is not that people are resisting change. Analysts say that the ideal operating environment for the new system is not yet available in the country.
E-payment has been defined as a subset of e-government which is the application of electronic means in the interaction between Government and Citizens and Government and Businesses.
A Director in charge of Consolidated Accounts in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), Osibote I, looked at e-payment as a form of direct payments and banking without physical appearance at the MDA or Bank through the means of electronic, interactive communication channels and other technological infrastructure.
Analysts believe e-payment should go in pari pasu with e-government where records of everything and everyone are known and are in tact. But they say the new system may not thrive under bad power supply.
Other conditions suitable for its success also include: Efficient telephone network system and strong Information Technology (IT) network.
Daily Trust can report that all these facilities are currently epileptic in the country.
Like the Automotive Teller Machine (ATM), the e-payment which was conceived to aid easy and quick transaction is rather causing delay. Many people are complaining and the government is finding ways of dealing with this dilemma.
For instance, it is expected that an electronic payment system should thrive in a society that has regular electricity, effective and efficient telephone network, etc. While all these facilities are still epileptic, the success of the system could be anything else but what is desirable.
While the Nigerian bankable population have been sold the idea of the culture of using e-payment platforms, it acceptance is still at its embryonic stage. The banking industry still has the big challenge of making payment by either credit or full e-payment. Nigeria's banks is still lagging behind in cashless transaction.
Quicker payment and transparency were cited as some of the basic reasons for introducing the e-payment regime, but so far, the system is so slow that many people are getting worried.
Apart from the slowness in the system, fillers coming out is that the accountant themselves who are suppose to implement it are the ones inhibiting its development. The system is getting delayed because the system does not give room for those charges with the execution of the system to perpetuate their old ways of doing things - corruption- and they are bent on getting it frustrated.
Because of the above reasons, Government and other people are worried on how to address some of the identified challenges of the e-payment system.
The Minister of Finance, Muhtar Mansur, recently asked accountant and other financial stakeholders to help find solutions to the e-payment problems.
Workshops and training are being organised to train and familiarise staff of MDAs on the work of the new system. Analysts are of the view that the major problem that the system would be confronted with is the accountants because the accountants are working against its success to keep their job.
At a recent workshop on the e-payment, the Accountant General of the Federation Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo said that government would not do anything to create hardship for the citizens.
He agreed that the system is encountering difficulties. "Let me first and foremost say that like any other system that is a new system it's bound to have that kind of fault. When there's a new thing coming; you really want to understand what it's intending to achieve, so what is its effect. Like I have said, the e-payment is basically an electronic form of paying government monies to beneficiaries or people paying government monies, like taxes through electronic means."
On the hints that it is the accountants that are trying to create problem for the system, the AGF said: "I have heard it being said that the Accountants area against the e-payments because it is going to take away their job. No, it is not going to take any one's job. Accountancy is not about paying cash. Accountants don't even have contact with cash. It is about providing quality accountability.
"If there is any place we suspect problem, we will resolve them", he said. Solutions to the e-payment are what Nigerians are waiting - and hoping that they will come soon.
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