Africa (Commonwealth Union) _ When John Obaro left his banking career in the early 1990s to venture into a tech company, few believed the promise of regionally developed software. John Obaro’s bold decision led to the creation of SystemSpecs and, ultimately, Remita, which has become the central hub of Nigeria‘s electronic financial sector.
Launched in 2005, Remita was designed to address a peculiarly Nigerian issue: how to simplify the collection of money, payment of salaries, and payment-making within a disintegrated financial landscape. Unlike foreign-imported solutions, Nigerians built Remita, precisely aligning it with the country’s regulatory framework and bank diversity. It now encompasses all commercial banks and over 600 microfinance institutions, silently facilitating the flow of salaries, taxes, school fees, and business payments for over 150,000 organizations.
The platform aggregated transactions worth ₦20–60 trillion a year, with volumes aggregating over ₦250 trillion. But they’re not mere numbers; they are government revenues received, livelihoods supported, and millions of Nigerians served with greater financial services access.
Remita is singular in its tailor-made architecture. From its proprietary 12-digit Remita Retrieval Reference (RRR) to real-time multi-bank reconciliation, the system isn’t assembled to scale, perform, and be transparent. Whether it’s bringing out a record from a decade ago or reconciling thousands of transactions daily, Remita delivers.
Its impact on Nigeria’s public sector reform has been profound. Remita forms the backbone of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), enables government ministry automation, and brings transparency to public finance. However, its impact extends far beyond just the government. Remita’s APIs now power edtech platforms, healthcare innovators, logistics firms, and financial inclusion across Nigeria’s digital economy.
Remita evolved into Remita Payment Services Limited (RPSL) in 2021 to focus more on innovation and compliance technology. With Managing Director ‘DeRemi Atanda at the helm, it is becoming an economy trust layer facilitating secure, compliant financial workflows that block fraud and improve governance.
As Africa takes steps toward economic integration under the AfCFTA, Remita is preparing for pancontinental relevance. Its building blocks already support policy discussions on open banking, credit access, and digital identity. By no means sprinting to the headlines, Remita is building what truly matters: resilience, scale, and autonomy.
In a hype-driven, unicorn-obsessed world, Remita is proof that the kind of change that counts for transformative innovation only occurs softly but endures eternally. It’s Made in Nigeria, for Africa. It’s not just a platform. It’s a template for what is possible when a continent is built from its own resources.Bottom of Form
