Officials of Access Bank Nigeria Plc have assured the management of Covenant University of their readiness to work with the University to proffer unique financial solutions that will offer payment solutions for students of the university during this period of cashless policy.
The Head of the Africa Fintech Foundry of the bank, Mr. Daniel Awe, at a parley with the members of management, said the bank is ready to interact and help deepen the existing partnership between the university and the bank, as well as ameliorate the challenges of buying and selling bedevilling the nation due to the redesign of the naira and ongoing swapping of old denominations.
Mr. Awe said Access is ready to help resolve challenges that impact the seamless operations of the cashless policy on campus without any form of impediment. According to him, "We are here to help design what the future payment system should look like and evolve a new means of doing business in the university’s ecosystem."
Mr. Awe, who came into the company of the Business Heads of the bank, Relationship Managers and Head, Digital Channel, said while they were interested in addressing the needs of the future, it was imperative to find solutions to the bottleneck of banking and payment impeding the present. He noted that the meeting and interaction will help the bank understand the brief and expectations of the university management, as this is key to creating solutions that will benefit students and members of the university community.
He stated that the idea of the team is not to wait for a problem to innovate but to innovate towards addressing critical problems that may rear their heads in the future in the business ecosystem, and it is with that mindset that the team will work at creating value for students, faculty, and staff of the university community.
The Director, Strategic Business Unit of the University, Mr. Opeyemi Babatunde, assured the team of the keenness of his unit to work with any organization that is smart and responsive to the business yearnings of the university community and at the same time create unique offerings that can speedily address any payment issue bedevilling customers in the light of the redesigning of the naira notes.
In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abiodun H. Adebayo, said the cashless policy that has been harped upon over the years is now at a critical stage of application, and as such, financial institutions must ensure that customers enjoy the best of services at every given point in time.
Professor Adebayo called for integrating the existing Access Bank debit cards the students already have with the new platform that will be created to maintain the relevance of existing cards for other economic and commercial activities beyond ATM withdrawals.
While appreciating the team for showing interest in working with the university, Professor Adebayo called for greater synergy between Covenant University and Access Bank in the area of research partnerships, where students' creative ideas can be incubated and developed to address micro and macro payment issues.
The meeting had in attendance the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olujide Adekeye; the Acting Registrar, Mrs. Regina Tobi-David; the Director, Financial Services, Pastor Olugbenga Kiki; the Director, Vice-Chancellor’s Office, Professor Omotayo Osibanjo; the Acting Dean of Students’ Affairs, Mrs. Shola Coker; and the Director, Centre for Systems and Information Services, Engr. Boladele Akanle.