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How #EndSARS ended fintech’s finest year, By Rarzack Olaegbe

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Rarzack Olaegbe

Every beginning ends. There is an end to every kingdom. Every reign ends. Every rain stops. Every storm ceases. Every fire dies. Every tyre expires. Every flow ebbs. Every heartbeat stops. You cannot live forever. Generation comes. Generation goes. As one rule ends another begins. That is why the era of computerization shut the door of manual accounting reconciliation. Computerization has ushered in the age of internet transaction.

As a result of this dynamism, the machine is making funds transfer so easy. Thus, you are able to experience instant funds transfer, funds transfer at the speed of thought. Blink. And the debit alert goes. Now, the machine or Artificial Intelligence has made everything so cool. Artificial Intelligence is now threatening the nature of work, as we used to know it. If you can think it, a machine can achieve it. If you can break it down into sequential bits, a machine can replicate the process faster.

You can stretch a machine beyond the limit. But you cannot subject me to the same stress; I will carry a placard in protest. A machine cannot do that. As such; the technology-savvy humans have pushed the machine in order to fast track banking. What was thought as impossible a few years back is now a second nature. Do you need cash in 24 hours? An automatic teller machine is around the corner to spew it. Do you need to make funds transfer on a Sunday morning? Your phone or your laptop with the internet connection will make it happen. The internet never sleeps.

You can stretch a machine beyond the limit. But you cannot subject me to the same stress; I will carry a placard in protest. A machine cannot do that.

Even at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, the technology did not sleep. It was awake. It is still awake. Technology played a major role during this period. It gave many Nigerians ample opportunity to make calls, surf the internet as well as send and receive cash in the comfort of their homes. The Nigerian Communications Commission [NCC]’s data sheet indicated that during the lockdown the number of Nigerians on the internet increased astronomically. The report showed that the country recorded 151.5 million internet subscriptions then. This is because there were an additional 1.8 million new subscribers between August and September.

That is the allure of the internet. Some Nigerians who were not at ease with electronic banking have suddenly developed a sweet tooth. Why not? There was a blanket restriction on movement. You could not leave home. The coronavirus protocol ensured you stayed indoor. Then your home became the golden triangle. You slept at home. You worked from home. You browse the internet while at home. Your every waking and sleeping moment was spent at home. You have nowhere to go. Thus, the internet superhighway was your shortest way to connect with friends and families, send and receive cash.

As a result of the stay-at-home-by-force rule, e-commerce activities bloomed. Many Nigerians shopped and ordered deliveries online. Online and mobile payment was at its peak. Fintech resilience was tested to the zenith. Yet, it delivered maximally. To that extent one can say that this year is Fintech’s finest year. Every financial transaction was carried out online. Some Nigerian banks generated more than N67.3 billion from electronic transactions.

Media reports indicated that the FUGAZ banks comprising First Bank, UBA, GTBank, Access Bank and Zenith Bank topped the list of banks with the highest “e-business earnings in the first half of 2020”.  First Bank led the race with N21.7 billion as at June 2020.

To give the figure some bites, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, in a media report explained that the electronic transaction volumes have increased by about 67 per cent during the Covid-19 lockdown with increased transactions noticed at the agent networks. While speaking during the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria [CIBN]-organized national seminar on banking and allied matters for judges, Emefiele attested that the lockdown pushed more Nigerians to the alternative payment channels.

Fintech is back in full bloom. The hen has come home to roost. The volumes will surge. The best is yet to come. This is just the beginning. This is not the end.

With the upsurge in the patronage of electronic banking, it is abundantly clear that year 2020 is Fintech’s finest. And in the face of this surge, Fintech has kept its resilience and availability until the #EndSARS protest conspired to thwart Fintech’s glory. What is the connection? This is it. In October, the President of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, said some member operators encountered service interruptions which “could persist for a short time due to the state of unrest in the country as a result of #EndSARS protest”.

The network outage affected the quality of internet services provided to subscribers. Adebayo, therefore, “appealed to subscribers to bear with them”. He explained that the outages were compounded by power and other operation-related issues that had occurred across major routes in Lagos and other states. This had resulted in network congestion. It was the culmination of the #EndSARS protest. Actually, it was not the protest itself. It involved other emergencies. As a result, miscreant hid under this cloudy environment to torch government properties. The private sector also suffered some losses. Bank branches were razed. Automated tellers machines were destroyed.

You know, when there is a power outage, automated teller machines and point sales terminals cannot function optimally. When these machines are down, cash dispensing cannot be up. Obviously, this logjam led to the shortage of cash. As it is always the case in Nigeria, the agent banking operators took advantage of the impasse. The agents charged exorbitant fees at the point of sales terminals. For instance, the ugly incidence was prevalent in Lagos and Abuja.

The residents of Kubwa satellite town in Abuja, for example, had to visit agents’ locations for cash withdrawal. To collect N1000, some agents charged N200 commission while N10, 000 attracted N300 naira. Similar experience happened in Lagos: Agents rationed cash. If you request N10, 000 you can only receive N5000 but you will pay N200 commission. It was that bad. Aside from this, to maximize profit, some agents relocated their services to a nearby automated teller machine centre. That was the fallout of the #EndSARS protest.

The involvement of hoodlums further exacerbated the pains experienced by some Nigerians who needed to make legitimate and timely transactions. All of these actions conspired to end Fintech’s finest year. Now the automated tellers machines, point of sale terminals, online and mobile payment channels are back at optimal level. Normalcy has returned. More Nigerians have been won over by the resilience and convenience offered by electronic transactions. The gladiators have returned to the trenches. Fintech is back in full bloom. The hen has come home to roost. The volumes will surge. The best is yet to come. This is just the beginning. This is not the end.

*Olaegbe ([email protected])

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