General News
Automation Key in Capital Market Resuscitation-Emmanuel
Amos Emmanuel, chief software architect/CEO, Programos Software Group, is first vice president, Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria (ITAN) and member of other various industry Associations.
He also founder and president of Programos Foundation and national coordinator and designer of the SPACE4Nigeria – Strategic Planning, Acquisition and Control Education portal of the UN Infopoverty Initiative that now serve as the pivot for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs.
The polyglot programmer is the UN World Summit Award Eminent National Expert for Nigeria and has authored many software products including the most populous African capital market software called CloudIntegraeTrade and IntegraFixPro5.0 OMS (Order Management System) Software utilized by over 100 African stockbroking organizations mostly in Nigeria and Ghana. Emmanuel founded the eAfrica.
He spoke to peter ugwu on software and Nigeria’s IT sundry issues.
Initiatives to Resuscitate Software for the Stock Market
The Nigerian stock market has been one segment of the nation’s financial sector that we have offered services in the last 15 years.
In addition, we have, from inception, introduced indigenous software called INTEGRA2000+ now been changed to a new product that is 100% cloud-based called CLOUDINTEGRA eTRADE.
It is an investment and e-Trade software that will enable stock market operators in Nigeria and indeed Africa to offer daily online services in a very transparent manner to local and foreign investors.
These were actually the things that eluded the Nigerian investment community before now. Besides, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has been developing a trading platform which calls for supporting software vendors to design fresh systems that can integrate the market with investors and dealers through a direct market access to the Nigerian Stock Market X-GEN FIXTrading Platform on daily basis and make investors trade directly, even from the comfort of their homes.
Programos Software Group has now being certified of the new IntegraFixPro5.0 OMS solution. This solution is the Orders Management System which empowers any stock market operator like the Dealer and customers to trade online over the new trading infrastructure.
Some of the benefits are that stock market brokers are able to offer transparent services.
Before now, investor do not know what transpires between their investment records, the stockbrokers, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the Bankers, the Registrars and the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS), as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
These are the major organs in the market. However, with information technology (IT), we have been able to provide more transparency in the processes that at no point can any of the players engage in anti-best practice without being noticed.
We all know that before now an investor gives a mandate before a broker can carry out a deal; if that rule was kept we would not have had cases in the news of a broker selling shares without the knowledge of the owner.
Some of the anti-best practices happened in the past because the regulatory rested on human beings and not necessarily on automatable standards which we now offer.
So, we have been able to use technology to mitigate risks in the market with the launch of CloudIntegra eTrade software.
CloudIntegraeTrade Software and IntegraFixPro5.0 will be on exhibition at the Nigerian Pavilion of the World Congresson Information Technology, WCIT 2014 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, September 2014.
Automation of the Stock Market and Investors’ Confidence
Automation is going to mitigate the risks and make the investment climate safer. Sincerely, it is the best time for you to penetrate the market, because you might be hearing that the market is coming up. The operating rules have changed and are still changing.
At the Americas Fix Trading Conference this year in New York, we were made to understand that the FIX (Financial Information eXchange) is designed to satisfy the investor.
Going by the investors’ appetite for optimal returns, mandates have become more challenging for the human mind as of the stockbroker to cope with on the new trading platform. So it is now more technology processes than more people-oriented processes.
According to Mr. David Jiboye, the IntegraFixPro5.0 OMS director at Programos Software Group, “Given the machine-to-machine architecture, risks have become better controlled”. With our CloudIntegra eTrade Solution, you can now manage your investment account as a self-service, because the automation empowers you.
From your CloudIntegra eTrade Account portal, as an investor, you are not only able to post buy and sell mandates of equities and bonds; you are offered online investment advisory services especially on your portfolio.
By this, the software knows what your average cost of investment has been and can actually give you basic trigger pricing information from time to time, to know when to salvage a loss or get out of an investment when it is nose-diving too badly, and consolidate into cash position to either withdraw or pick more valuable investment options.
So, investors are now able to watch their growth on investments, optimize their gains, take profits at target return shitting points like 15%, 20% etc.
Entrepreneurship Initiatives to Aid Youth and School Leavers
Programos Software Group funds its Programos Foundation for a variety of initiatives in this area. We mentioned the graduate capacity building where we train for free and supply to the labour market freely.
Programos Foundation in conjunction with Seone Foundation Inc, Houston have met with the Vice Chancellor and management of Bells University for the establishment of a Campus-to-Corporate Initiative for its undergraduates.
This will span more universities. In Programos, we have records of students who have done their SIWES through us become best students upon graduation.
Local Software Developers and International Certifications
The story of certification shows that Nigerians are top there! It is not about certification. You can get all the certifications in the world without achieving anything. Even in IT, Nigerians are top in any professional certification.
You can get all that abroad, on getting back to the country you get frustrated.
Sincerely, you need an environment where you offer a service and the market measures you based on your competence.
In my segment of the economy, I have made sure that no foreign software plays any role there.
Let the public make their research if there were foreign software running in the Nigerian stock market in the last 15 years.
And I also operate outside Nigeria, but who recognizes that? Who is even encouraging one? No body! Instead, people, especially government officials will be eavesdropping, searching one ways to frustrate you.
You have institutional degeneracy all over the place. As an entrepreneur, I run on generator at an average of almost 15 hours daily; nobody cares what your pains are.
It is unfortunate to see government functionaries embezzle tax payer’s money yearly without anybody doing something substantive.
We are not begging for funds, but space to operate, and the right conscience to know that they owe us the demand for our services and products.
In every aspect of IT innovation, Nigerians are innovative. Now, we have come to realize that we are worth more than what we are getting.
I feel, one day, we will get a government that will take advantage of what Nigeria has as human resources. We may not appreciate it today, but very soon, we cannot shy away from the fact Nigeria has very solid resources.
It is unfortunate we have generations in Nigeria that one produces only for the other to consume and not replicate or re-produce. That is why someone can steal my intellectual property without recourse.
In the media and entertainment industry in particular, it is a nagging issue. Our entertainment industry is facing a situation of almost extinction. Is that industry not the one we believed so much in? They create values and never reap from it. Who cares for their protection and continuous promotion?
Tomorrow we make noise of about million or billion dollar intervention fund that are never seen to address the challenges of the industry.
There is quite a lot the IT industry can do for this country. In the World Summit Award, my concerns are about the Governments themselves; offering e-services to its people and being accountable to the services.
IT will take care of tourism problems of this country. When we talk about IT inclusion, we have a larger population of this country in places that are not yet developed. We talk about internet penetration, there are still areas people do not understand the meaning of the word Internet.
There are some places that as you travel and cross a particular boundary all your signals are lost. We have a major challenge; we need innovations that will address the societal issues.
We need to bring those who are out of the system to understand there are areas or things they need to embrace. Outside that, we need to protect the Nollywood; we should not play with that industry. You talk about the Nigerian capital market today, it is and is going to be the wonderful work of technology that will revive the market that has defied many regulatory interventions; it takes technology to restore investors’ confidence, make the players to do the right for the public to see the transparency and decide to get back or not. Is it in health, aviation, education, you name it, innovation spans across several aspects of life.
Nigerians innovators crave to become actors of the socio-economic development of their societies.
Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC), has said that there are plans for Nigeria to begin to generate electricity from nuclear sources.
Mr Anthony Godwin Ekedegwa, chief executive, NAEC stated this when he recently visited Mr Umar Yusuf Girei, acting managing director, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA),in Abuja.
He was at NIWA’s office to solicit the support of NIWA in achieving the numerous advantages of using nuclear energy technology in the country.
According to him, the partnership of critical stakeholders in Nigeria will position the country well in developing and maintaining its nuclear power plant.
The NAEC chief said Nigeria intends to begin the generation of electricity from nuclear sources instead of fossil-based power plants and hydro-based power plants, stressing that for Nigeria to develop, there is a need for the country to diversify its energy needs.
In his remarks, Mr Girei assured NAEC of his agency’s readiness to collaborate on the advancement of a nuclear power plant in Nigeria.
He promised the full support of NAEC for the success of a nuclear power plant in the country, saying that as the organisation saddled with the responsibility of regulating and developing Nigeria Inland Waterways, his entity is strategically positioned to play a critical role in the federal government’s quest for sustainable energy through the new technology.
In a powerful call for continental solidarity, Ralph Mupita, Group CEO of MTN, has asserted that the future of the African continent depends on the dismantling of xenophobic barriers.
Speaking at the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation (KMF) Winter Seminar, Mupita framed migration as a fundamental characteristic of the African identity, urging South Africa and other nations to embrace integration over exclusion.
He emphasised that the survival of African enterprises depends on a borderless approach to trade and talent. “The digital economy we’re fast moving to knows no borders.” Mupita declared, noting that the mindset of exclusion is an outdated relic that hinders the continent’s ability to compete globally.
He argued that for Africa to leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the psychological barriers of xenophobia must be eradicated.
Providing a stark financial justification for this stance, Mupita highlighted MTN’s own operational reality as a blueprint for Pan-African success. “We earn about 80 to 82% of our earnings from outside South Africa,” he revealed, illustrating that the prosperity of South African-born entities is inextricably linked to their success across the rest of the continent. This figure underscores the interdependence of African economies and the danger of isolationist policies.
Mupita’s stance was strong advocating for unity: “The future of Africa will not be determined by the borders that separate us, but by the economic opportunities that connect us. Governments must set predictable policy and regulations.
Businesses will follow and allocate resources and capital. Together, we can build a continent where opportunity is more evenly shared and prosperity is more widely created.”
Analysts observing the seminar noted that Mupita’s remarks come at a critical juncture where economic volatility often fuels nationalist rhetoric. By tying the fight against xenophobia to the balance sheet, MTN is positioning Pan-Africanism beyond the moral imperative to its function as a business necessity. The CEO stressed that “Migration is part of who we are,” suggesting that the movement of people is the primary engine for the movement of capital and innovation.
Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has urged the Federal Government and the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to suspend the proposed increase in Nigeria’s mandatory pension contribution from 18 per cent to 21 per cent, warning that the policy would raise the cost of doing business, threaten jobs and undermine enterprise sustainability at a time of mounting economic pressures.
Dr. Chinyere Almona, director general of the LCCI, said while strengthening retirement security remains an important policy objective, increasing mandatory pension contributions by three percentage points would impose additional financial burdens on businesses already grappling with high borrowing costs, persistent inflation, foreign exchange volatility, rising energy prices and multiple taxes.
According to the chamber, the proposed increase comes at a period when many businesses, particularly micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), are struggling to remain profitable amid Nigeria’s challenging operating environment.
The LCCI noted that Nigeria’s existing mandatory pension contribution rate of 18 per cent comprising 10 per cent by employers and 8 per cent by employees is already broadly aligned with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average of 18.8 per cent.
It argued that raising the contribution to approximately 21 per cent would place Nigeria above several comparable economies, including the United Kingdom, where mandatory contributions stand at 8 per cent; the United States at 12.4 per cent; Kenya at 12 per cent, subject to earnings caps; and South Africa, where there is no equivalent mandatory private-sector pension contribution.
The chamber warned that implementing the proposed increase would significantly raise employment costs for employers, discourage new recruitment, constrain wage growth and place disproportionate pressure on MSMEs, which account for a substantial share of employment in Nigeria.
According to the LCCI, the higher payroll obligations could also reduce Nigeria’s competitiveness as an investment destination, encourage non-compliance with pension regulations and push more businesses into the informal sector.
“A stronger pension system cannot be built on weaker businesses,” the chamber stated, stressing that economic sustainability and business growth remain critical to expanding pension coverage over the long term.
The LCCI therefore called on the Federal Government to defer the proposal until a comprehensive Nigeria-specific actuarial and economic impact assessment is conducted to determine its implications for businesses, workers and the broader economy.
It also urged policymakers to engage in extensive consultations with organised private sector groups, labour unions and other key stakeholders before implementing any changes to the country’s pension contribution framework.
According to the chamber, the government’s immediate priority should be restoring business confidence, preserving existing jobs, encouraging investment and expanding the formal economy, which it described as the most sustainable pathway to improving retirement savings.
As an alternative to increasing contribution rates, the LCCI advised PenCom to focus on developing more innovative investment instruments capable of generating stronger returns on pension assets.
The chamber said improving investment performance would enhance contributors’ retirement savings without imposing additional financial obligations on employers and employees already facing difficult economic conditions.
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