Cross River Signs deal On Identity Management, E-Payment
CALABAR, Sept 20, (THEWILL) - Cross River State Government has signed a joint venture agreement with Interswitch Limited for the implementation of the Cross River State Identity Management and E-Payment Backbone.
Mr. Odo Effiong Special Adviser ICT and Mr. Ekpenyong Henshaw, Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary Ministry of Justice signed on behalf of the State, while Mr. Mitchell Elegbe signed on behalf of Inter switch Limited and was witnessed by the Partner banks, First Bank, Eco Bank, Oceanic Bank, City Bank and Wema Bank.
Governor Liyel Imoke described the occasion as a reflection of a new way of doing business in Cross River, stating that the government will continue to partner the private sector to improve on service delivery, and help make a difference in the lives of the citizens. He added that the success of the project would be a success story for the combined effort between the public and private sectors.
According to Imoke, the project has a great opportunity and benefit potentials to improve the people and the government of the state by providing a strong back bone for E-Payment as well as opportunities to gather information and data in identifying the citizens of the state and determine the number of people required in the civil Service concerning their income and bio-data.
The Governor noted that the goal of the project is to build an infrastructure and operations that would deliver identity management and payment processing at no cost to the state government. It will also improve internal revenue generation capacity of the state, as well as provide accurate data and fail-proof identification of citizens for development purposes, social services and planning, he said.
He admonished that the contents of the agreement should be adhered to totally for the people to enjoy the service which they provide.
Mr. Mitchell Elegbe, Managing Director, Interswitch Limited, said with the commencement of its services, the Internally Generated Revenue of the State will improve greatly, explaining that the first phase of the project had been completed while the next phase is to take off after the agreement has been signed.
Elegbe said the company is committed to partner the State to enable it reap from its numerous benefits in Agriculture, Health, social Welfare, Public Transport, Internal Revenue and Accountant general office and thanked the State Government for finding them worthy to do business with.
Mr. Fidelis Ugbo, Secretary to the State Government in an introductory remark, disclosed that discussion between the State Government and Interswitch started in December last year and it took the state long time to arrive at that stage because it is a new innovation, adding that it organized a series of workshops and visits to enable stake holders understand how it is operated.
The State Government is expected to create the enabling environment through legislation and support necessary to ensure the success of the project, whilst Interswitch would provide the technical expertise, funding, and develop a self-sustaining business model for the company.