- Explain what you do to a 5-year-old.
I help people use computers and phones to make life easier. I work with banks and other big companies to help them send money safely and quickly. I also help the government use technology to keep good records of people. My job is to help people work together so everyone can use technology better.
- At NIBSS, what’s one part of Nigeria’s payments infrastructure most people misunderstand or overlook?
We are an enabler, not a consumer brand, and that’s what most people miss. People think payments are about the apps they see: their bank app, a fintech wallet, a PoS terminal, but none of those work on their own. What makes them work is the shared national infrastructure underneath, which allows all these different institutions to connect, trust each other, and move money safely.
At NIBSS, our role is to make sure that banks, fintechs, switches, and payment providers can plug into one reliable system and compete and innovate on top of it. We don’t try to own the customer; rather, we enable everyone else to serve them. When that foundation is strong, the entire ecosystem grows faster, safer, and more inclusive.
- What’s the biggest trade-off you’ve had to manage when building fintech products versus running national payments systems?
In fintech, you are rewarded for moving fast by testing ideas, launching quickly, and iterating based on what users want. You can afford to fail small and fix things as you go.
In the national payments infrastructure, you are responsible for everyone. A single change can affect millions of people, thousands of businesses, and the entire financial system. So the priority shifts to resilience, trust, and predictability. You don’t get to “move fast and break things” when you are the backbone of the economy.
Having worked on both sides, I’ve learned that neither approach is better as they need each other. Fintech brings speed and creativity, while infrastructure provides the stable rails that make that innovation safe at scale. My role has been learning how to bridge those two worlds so innovation can happen without putting the system at risk.
- If you were starting your career today, what part of Africa’s tech ecosystem would you bet your money on, and why?
Most of the ideas I have had or businesses I created were around technology, whether in payments, beauty, or health. If I had to pick an area right now, it’s exactly where I am, which is payments and financial infrastructure, because that is where technology touches the most people in the most meaningful way. Payments are not just about moving money; it is about whether someone can participate in the economy at all. If you can get paid, save, send money, or accept payments, you can work, trade, build a business, and plan for the future. If you can’t, you are effectively invisible.
What draws me to this space is that it sits right at the intersection of people and systems. Every transaction represents a real human story, a salary being paid, a market trader buying stock, a family sending money home or paying a medical bill, or a small business collecting revenue. When the infrastructure works, those everyday moments become easier, safer, and more reliable. When it doesn’t, it creates friction, exclusion, and real hardship.
For someone like me who cares deeply about people, payments is one of the highest-impact places to work. You’re not just building technology; you’re building access, trust, and economic dignity at scale. And when you combine that with national infrastructure, you’re not helping a few users; you’re helping entire communities, industries, and countries move forward.
- Five years from now, what would success look like for Nigeria’s payments ecosystem, and how do you hope to contribute?
Five years from now, success for Nigeria’s payments ecosystem would mean that payments are no longer something people think about; they just work. Whether you are a market trader, a fintech startup, a large corporation, or a government agency, moving money should be instant, affordable, reliable, and fully interoperable. Cash should no longer be the default, not because it was banned, but because digital payments are simply better: safer, easier, and more trusted.
It would also mean that payments are deeply linked to identity, data, and credit, so that once someone is part of the system, they can do much more than just send money. They can access loans, receive government support, run a formal business, and build a financial history. That is how payments stop being just transactions and start becoming real economic inclusion.
I hope to contribute by helping build and steward the national rails that make all of that possible, ensuring they are neutral, open, resilient, and designed for the long term. I want to keep being a bridge between banks, fintechs, regulators, and innovators, so that Nigeria’s payments infrastructure doesn’t just grow, but grows in a way that serves people, competition, and the future of the economy.
