Abayomi Oniku

Group Head, Public Sector & Special Projects

Abayomi Oniku heads our Public Sector operations, which involves collaboration with the Federal Government of Nigeria and several states of the federation in delivering efficient payments and billing solutions.

His work experience spans Human Resources Management, Compensation Management, Business Process Analysis and Design, Solution Delivery and Support, Project Management, Payroll and Payment Management across various sectors of the economy. He has also worked in nine countries in Africa and Europe managing solution delivery projects. He is an adaptable and enthusiastic person who takes great pride in his work and relishes challenges. Prior to joining SystemSpecs, he worked with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Accenture Nigeria.

Abayomi is a graduate of Economics, a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria (ICAN), an associate member of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), and an alumnus of the Accenture Learning Centre, Chicago.

Gbenga Oludaisi

Head, Enterprise Risk Management

Gbenga Oludaisi is responsible for risk management across our enterprise infrastructure and plays an active role in systems/operations audit and the certification processes the company has to undergo to validate the standardization of our operations.

Gbenga joined SystemSpecs as an Internal Auditor in 2009 but today he heads our Enterprise Risk Management Team. His professional work experiences span over two decades in the manufacturing sector, financial service industry, and public practice. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), and Information Systems Audit & Control Association (ISACA).

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from the Ogun State University (now Olabisi Onabanjo University). Prior to this, Gbenga obtained a National Diploma in Accountancy from the Ogun State Polytechnic where he was decorated with the Best Student Award. He has also attended several professional improvement training programmes in and outside Nigeria.

Udo Ngele

Head, Enterprise Application & Technology Operations.

Udo Ngele, popularly known as ‘Udy’, is a Deputy General Manager and currently manages the infrastructural platforms and services on which SystemSpecs’ enterprise applications run.

Udy, who has attended numerous professional courses in reputable institutions like Microsoft South Africa and Learning Tree London, is a sound technology business and customer service professional. His expertise has come in very handy in the implementation and integration of HumanManager and Remita for various projects embarked upon by SystemSpecs across various sectors of the economy.

A topnotch system designer, Udy is an Oracle-certified professional and possesses a degree in Computer Science from the Federal University of Technology, Minna and an MBA from the prestigious Lagos Business School of the Pan-Atlantic University.

David Okeme heads

Payment Applications and Vertical Markets, the division responsible for delivering our retail-focused products and services. He was previously in charge of our Marketing and Sustainability initiatives. He is a multiple award-winning professional whose career of more than two decades has spanned several countries and cultures, leading many successful initiatives in both traditional and digital marketing.

Until recently, he was the Marketing Director of Unilever Nigeria, where he had a distinguished career covering the entire four lanes of Marketing Brand Building, Brand Development, Customer Development and Customer Marketing. In 2008, he was deployed to Unilever Arabia, based in Dubai, where he managed Unilever Oral Care business in the Africa, Middle East and Turkey region. After his stint in Dubai, he was appointed to the Board of Unilever Nigeria PLC as Marketing Director, a position he held for six years. David is passionate about brighter life for African Consumers and one of his pet projects is listed in the Guinness Book of records. His awards and recognitions include the Marketing Edge Lifetime Achievement Award, Brand of the Year (Advertisers Association of Nigeria), Best Practice Execution of Digital Campaign, National Institute of Marketing Life Time Achievement Award, Unilever ASIA/AMET Award for World Class Brand Activation, to name a few.

David is an alumnus of the University of Jos, London Business School, Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania, and also the Chief Executives Programme (CEP 21) of the Lagos Business School. He is currently the President of the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), a fellow of the National Institute of Marketing, member of Advertisers Practitioners Association of Nigeria (APCON), and Executive Board member of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA).

Paul Ibidun heads the division responsible for the overall delivery of corporate services and administration for SystemSpecs’ operations.

A pioneer staff of SystemSpecs, Paul commenced his career in the company as a Marketing/Sales Manager though with omnibus responsibilities sprawling over other multiple roles. He is a Certified Project Management Professional and has had a stint in pragmatic project management practice while he coordinated the deployment and support services to clients using our HumanManager Application. A consummate Business Administrator, Paul currently coordinates our Corporate Services functions spanning the general administration, HR, Training, Finance and a number of other strategic business units of SystemSpecs. An alumnus of the Lagos Business School (AMP 10), Paul has attended numerous training programmes locally and overseas with a pointed emphasis on Human Resources Management, Project Management, Leadership and Corporate Governance among others. Paul is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (MCIPM).

Paul is a 1983 graduate of Political Science from the University of Ibadan. He obtained a Master’s degree in Industrial and Labour Relations from the same University in 1989 before earning an MBA from the Obafemi Awolowo University in 1999. Paul started a professional career in Human Resources Management at Kwara Breweries Limited shortly after the completion of his National Youth Service programme at NTA Ibadan where he garnered the basic rudiments of Personnel Management and Office Administration. He subsequently moved on to an international NGO, the Canadian Universities Service Organization (CUSO), in Ibadan as a Programme Officer.

Demola Igbalajobi

Executive Director

Demola is the Executive Director in charge of the Public Sector and Special Projects Division. He leads responsibility for the development, adoption and support of SystemSpecs’ entire solutions and services suite by governments at all levels, including the widely celebrated Treasury Single Account (TSA) of the Federal Government and states in Nigeria, as well as similar initiatives across Africa.

He previously had responsibility for the International Business Division as well as the Business Development and Service Delivery of the Remita platform in Nigeria. He was also the Project Executive responsible for the delivery of the Remita platform. A chartered accountant and seasoned project manager, Ademola has well over 25 years’ multi-industry experience working with blue-chip firms to implement strategic, business-focused solutions that support various strategic goals and maximise return on investments. Before joining SystemSpecs, Ademola had a long spell with IBM UK, managing software implementation and application development projects, setting up and handling programme management offices and consulting on ERP implementation. His experience also covers business analytics, change management as well as programme management in the automotive, telecommunications, finance, hospitality, pharmaceutical and manufacturing industries.

Ademola has experience with managing multi-skilled project teams (Business Analysts, Designers, Architects, Developers and Testers) from different sources (Third-party contractors, client organisation personnel and offshore resources) as well as offshore development.

Ezinne Obikile

Executive Director

Ezinne oversees the development of SystemSpecs’ payment and data aggregation infrastructure, offered to financial institutions, merchants and payment services providers with the aim of driving seamless payments and financial inclusion.

Prior to joining SystemSpecs, she was the pioneer Group Head of Transaction Banking at First Bank of Nigeria Limited and was hitherto the Group Head, Products & Marketing Support, with responsibility for the development and nationwide sales of the bank’s products across its consumer, retail and wholesale distribution channels. Ezinne began her professional career in 1987 as a software developer with the Ibru Group of Companies before joining First Bank’s IT division in 1989 and rose through the technology ranks from serving as an applications programmer to becoming a systems analyst; Head, Software Development; Head, IT Research & Development; and Head, Solutions Development. She led the Core Banking Application (CBA) selection and Data Migration work streams of the historic Century II project that transformed First Bank from distributed (stand-alone) branch banking to centralised online banking across its over 600 branches in 2002. While at First Bank, she held other senior management positions at various times as Relationship Team Lead, Commercial and Corporate Banking as well as Head of Payments & Collections, with responsibility for the development, enhancement and offering of electronic payment solutions to the bank’s Blue Chip, Multinational, Corporate, Retail and Public sector customers. Ezinne has over 31 years work experience, with 29 years in banking, where she garnered diverse experiences in Banking Process Automation, Products Development & Improvement, Electronic Payments, Credit and Relationship Management, as well as Cash Management. She is a two-time winner of First Bank’s CEO Annual Merit Award of “Best Product Manager” in 2008 and 2009 consecutively.

Ezinne holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Computer Science from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, as well as a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Banking and Finance from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology. She has attended several executive training programmes at Kellogg School of Business, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA; University of California, Berkeley; INSEAD Business School, amongst others. She is a member of the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) and enjoys reading and cooking.

“Deremi Atanda

Strategy and Marketing

‘DeRemi currently heads the directorate for Strategy and Marketing in SystemSpecs. As such, he is the face of the company on several fronts and features prominently on local and international circuits as a speaker on national development, business ethics and youth development among other subject areas. ‘DeRemi is also the current chairman of the NPSV 2020 Joint Working Group on e-payment of Salaries, Pensions, Suppliers and Taxes (JWG-SPS&T). He enjoys working with self-confident and intelligent young people to become rounded business professionals able to assume multi-dimensional responsibilities.

‘DeRemi is a leading IT business and marketing strategist with extensive experience leading major national IT and e-payment initiatives. Leading a team of local and foreign organisations and consultants, he was the pioneer project delivery director of the very successful World Bank-assisted Federal Government Integrated Payroll & Personnel Information System (IPPIS) that started in November 2006 and went live in a record 6 months. Although he has become a well-respected name in the IT industry, ‘DeRemi did not study IT in the university. A graduate of Physics; by sheer inquisitiveness, probing and persistence, ‘DeRemi has cut a niche for himself not only in SystemSpecs but also in the Nigerian IT terrain. Very much at home and current on IT trends and issues, he is a strategic player in the SystemSpecs team. He led the vibrant team that successfully delivered one of the earliest and very challenging end-to-end e-payment initiatives of the Federal Government within 2 months, following the presidential directive of January 2009. This has gone on to become a model for other Federal and State MDAs. ‘DeRemi has operated in different roles and at different levels cutting across print production, sales and marketing, large scale enterprise solution delivery, project management, public sector relationship management, quality assurance and strategy in his professional career spanning more than two decades.

With a first degree from the University of Ibadan and an MBA from the Pan-Atlantic University (formerly Pan-African University), ‘DeRemi is also a year 2000 alumnus of the Advanced Management Program (AMP) of the Lagos Business School and a participant in Stanford University’s SEED Programme. Happily married with children, he is a member of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), loves travelling, and is an avid technology enthusiast.

Dr. Ernest Ndukwe

Non-Executive Director

Dr. Ernest Ndukwe is an electrical/electronics engineer, with over 40 years’ experience in the telecommunications industry. A former Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) between 2000 and 2010, Dr Ndukwe was responsible for the level of transparency recorded at the NCC, which resulted in the liberalisation of the telecommunications industry and significant investment in the sector.

Ndukwe has served as the Chairman of the Administrative Council of the African Telecommunications Union and Chairman of the West African Telecom Regulators Association (WATRA), an organisation he pioneered. He has represented Nigeria at various international events and is a regular resource person at national and international conferences. He is a widely acclaimed expert in Telecom Policy and Regulation and sits on the board of several companies including Openmedia Ltd and Electromechanical Nigeria Ltd. His Board-level experience dates back to 1988 when he was appointed Commercial Director at General Telecom Plc, where he later became the Managing Director (MD) in 1989. It was from his position as MD of General Telecom Plc that he was appointed to lead the Nigerian Communications Commission as CEO, a position he retired from in March 2010. He also served on the Presidential Committee on Job Creation, and was the Co-Chair of the Presidential Committee on Strategy and Roadmap for Universal Broadband Access in Nigeria.

A graduate of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) and an alumnus of Lagos Business School, Dr Ndukwe holds the fellowship awards of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Nigerian Institute of Management (FNIM) and Nigerian Academy of Engineering. He is also on the Faculty of the Lagos Business School where he heads the Centre for Infrastructure Policy, Regulation and Advancement (CIPRA). His area of teaching interest includes strategic leadership with special focus on the character traits of CEO’s that lead to business failures.

Mr. Emmanuel Ocholi is an economist, stockbroker and banker of high repute with experience spanning over three decades. He also is a well-travelled entrepreneur who has attended several local and international courses and seminars some of which he was engaged as presenter of discussion papers.

A fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Stockbrokers, Mr. Ocholi is on the board of several companies whose interests span manufacturing, insurance, ICT and telecommunications. A member of the Investment and Securities Tribunal (a specialist court that adjudicates on matters relating to the Nigerian Capital market), Mr. Ocholi was until 2010 a council member of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. He also served on the board of the Bank of Industry and the National Technical Working Group on Vision 20:20.

After graduating with a second-class upper in Economics from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Mr. Ocholi had an impressive banking career in NAL Merchant Bank between 1976 and 1986 from where he moved to become the Executive Vice Chairman of Rims Merchant Bank between 1988 and 1994.

John Obaro

Managing Director

In addition to being the founder and Managing Director of SystemSpecs Limited, Mr John Obaro is a fellow of the Centre for African Policy Development and Research, Glasgow, Scotland; a fellow of Nigeria Computer Society (NCS); an ex-member of the Governing Council of Computers Professionals (Registration Council) of Nigeria (CPN) – the highest industry practice regulatory body; and a past 1st Vice President of the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON). John Obaro was recognised as FATE Foundation’s Model Entrepreneur of the Year 2018; named in 2017 by BusinessDay newspaper among 50 Most Influential Nigerians; recognised with the honour of Leadership in Technology at the 2016 African Achievement Awards in Scotland; as the ICT Software Personality of the Year 2016 at the Beacon of ICT (BoICT) Award; in addition to other numerous indigenous and international awards he has received over the years.

Having enjoyed a successful career with International Merchant Bank (IMB), John Obaro founded SystemSpecs about three decades years ago as a West African Partner to Systems Union, UK, offering the SunSystems suite of solutions. The company soon started developing its own proprietary Payroll and Human Resource Management solution, HumanManager, which has become the preferred choice for many leading public and private sector organisations in Nigeria and Africa. John Obaro’s successful entrepreneurial adventure in software development architecture has attracted and continues to attract attention from both local and international quarters. The prestigious Lagos Business School (LBS) of the Pan-Atlantic University has written two case studies on SystemSpecs while many newspapers, magazines and journals have also featured him at one time or the other. John Obaro is a distinguished alumnus of both Ahmadu Bello University, University of Lagos, and the Chief Executive Programme (CEP3) of Lagos Business School. He has served at various times on the Boards of the Ministerial Advisory Council on Information and Communication Technology, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria, Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN), Governing Council of the National ICT Incubation Programme, and many more.

He is passionate about the promotion of Nigeria’s indigenous software industry as a capable and comparable rival to anyone anywhere in the world. John Obaro is known in many circles as ‘The Consummate Innovator.’ He is a trailblazer on many fronts, and indeed his footprint is evident across many sectors of the Nigerian economy.

Dr. Kolade is a veteran broadcaster, a communicator and a quintessential information disseminator who is nationally and internationally renowned for his business skills and integrity. He retired at the age of 45 as the Director-General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission and joined Cadbury Nigeria Plc as Administration Director where he rose to become the Managing Director and Chairman.

He has also meritoriously served in leadership positions of many national and international bodies – President, Nigerian Institute of Management; President, Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria; President, International Institute for Communications; President, World Association for Christian Communication; among many others. Kolade has promoted business integrity in Nigeria through his chairmanship of organizations such as Integrity Organization Ltd. GTE and The Convention on Business Integrity Ltd.

Dr. Kolade was one of the visionaries that sowed the seed for the evolution of the prestigious Lagos Business School and Pan-African University (now Pan-Atlantic University) where he lectured on Leadership and related Business Management themes and is now Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council.

Bimpe Ayo-Elias

Head, Human Resources

Bimpe Ayo-Elias is a Senior Human Resources Professional with about two decades of cognate experience in talent management, HR services, performance management, compensation, compensation management, leadership development, as well as policy development and implementation

Prior to joining SystemSpecs, she served as the HR Director (Nigeria & Ghana) of the telecommunications equipment company, Acatel-Lucent, where she developed and implemented various human resources strategies that impacted positively on various business objectives.

Bimpe has undergone several trainings home and abroad and is certified in International HR Management by Cranfield School of Management, and in Entrepreneurial Management by the Pan-Atlantic University.

Mujib Ishola

Head, Technology, Infrastructure and Payment Gateway

Mujib is a thoroughbred technologist and an unrelenting pursuer of innovation. He joined SystemSpecs in 2011 and currently heads the Technology team of our Infrastructure and Payment Gateway SBU.

He is an IT professional with experience in software and systems design, development and implementation, project management, as well as Information and Infrastructure support. In his over a decade of software engineering, his contributions have made landmark impacts on Nigeria’s financial technology industry, specifically how payments are made and received.

His work at SystemSpecs has led to major advancements in our products, especially in the development and incremental advancement of Remita, our flagship product, for the payroll, payments and human capital management needs of individuals and organisations across various sectors of the Nigerian economy.

Mujib has had working experiences with various organisations in the United Kingdom and Nigeria. Among many others, he was the lead developer at Javelin Group, United Kingdom’s leading specialist consultancy firm whose clients include many of UK’s top 20 retailers like Wal-Mart, Tesco and Sony.

He holds qualifications from North East Surrey College of Technology and Middlesex University, United Kingdom. Mujib also has various professional certifications.

Uche Obiofuma heads our Human Capital Solutions Division and has provided leadership to our public sector reform projects in the last 12 years. His wealth of experience covers institutional and organisational development, sector reform, strategy, process facilitation and training.

He has held several managerial positions in a span of over 18 years with SystemSpecs, building teams driven by intellectual force for positive change and development. He is also passionate about delivering Excellence through Innovation and People Development.

He holds a degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu. He is an alumnus of the Lagos Business School (LBS), Maastricht Institute of Management, Netherlands and has attended several managerial and project management courses at the World-acclaimed Learning Tree Institute in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Emmanuel Eze

Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Emmanuel Eze currently leads our Technology & Operations directorate with responsibility for the design, engineering and delivery of software products of SystemSpecs. He is a seasoned IT professional with over 15 years’ experience in software architecture, web and mobile technologies, database and enterprise infrastructure management, research and development, IT security, among others. As the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of a foremost software company in Nigeria, Emmanuel has distinguished himself by creating technology solutions that impact many businesses in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.

He joined SystemSpecs in 2001 as a Senior Systems Executive and successfully led the design and development of probably the first Self-Service driven Payroll and HR software in Nigeria at a time most applications were still Client-Server based. He was part of the team that developed the solution that powered the Integrated Personnel & Payroll Information System (IPPIS) – a World Bank sponsored project worth millions of Dollars. The project provided a database of accurate records of Federal Civil Servants, eliminated “ghost” workers and saved the Federal Government Nigeria billions of Naira.

Emmanuel received his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from The University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Given his penchant for excellence and thoroughness, it is no surprise that in 2003 he decided to go for further studies in the United Kingdom where he earned a PhD in Computer Science at the University of Hull. Also an alumnus of Oxford Advanced Management and Leadership Programme of the Said Business School, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, Emmanuel is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS), a Senior Member of IEEE Computer Society (SMIEEE), a Member of Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (MCPN), a Member of Nigeria Computer Society (MNCS), and a Member of Association of Computing Machinery (MACM). He represents SystemSpecs in a number of Vision2020 Sub-committees of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Emmanuel has attended numerous professional training programmes at home and abroad and has contributed book chapters and published scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and conferences.

Demola Igbalajobi

International Business & Special Projects

Demola is the Executive Director in charge of the Public Sector and Special Projects Division. He has lead responsibility for the development, adoption and support of SystemSpecs’ entire solutions and services suite by governments at all levels, including the widely celebrated Treasury Single Account (TSA) of the Federal Government and states in Nigeria, as well as similar initiatives across Africa.

He previously had responsibility for the International Business Division as well as the Business Development and Service Delivery of the Remita platform in Nigeria. He was also the Project Executive responsible for the delivery of the Remita platform. A chartered accountant and seasoned project manager, Ademola has well over 25 years’ multi-industry experience working with blue-chip firms to implement strategic, business-focused solutions that support various strategic goals and maximise return on investments. Before joining SystemSpecs, Ademola had a long spell with IBM UK, managing software implementation and application development projects, setting up and handling programme management offices and consulting on ERP implementation. His experience also covers business analytics, change management as well as programme management in the automotive, telecommunications, finance, hospitality, pharmaceutical and manufacturing industries.

Ademola has experience with managing multi-skilled project teams (Business Analysts, Designers, Architects, Developers and Testers) from different sources (Third-party contractors, client organisation personnel and offshore resources) as well as offshore development.

Ezinne Obikile

Payment Infrastructure & Gateway

Ezinne oversees the development of SystemSpecs’ payment and data aggregation infrastructure, offered to financial institutions, Merchants and payment services providers with the aim of driving seamless payments and financial inclusion.

Prior to joining SystemSpecs, she was the Pioneer Group Head of Transaction Banking at First Bank of Nigeria Limited and was hitherto the Group Head, Products & Marketing Support, with responsibility for the development and nationwide sales of the bank’s products across its consumer, retail and wholesale distribution channels. Ezinne began her professional career in 1987 as a software developer with the Ibru Group of Companies before joining First Bank’s IT division in 1989 and rose through the Technology ranks from serving as an applications programmer to becoming a systems analyst; Head, Software Development; Head, IT Research & Development; and Head, Solutions Development. She led the Core Banking Application (CBA) selection and Data Migration work streams of the historic Century II project that transformed First Bank from distributed (stand-alone) branch banking to centralised online banking across its over 600 branches in 2002. While at First Bank, she held other senior management positions at various times as Relationship Team Lead, Commercial and Corporate Banking as well as Head of Payments & Collections, with responsibility for the development, enhancement and offering of electronic payment solutions to the bank’s Blue Chip, Multinational, Corporate, Retail and Public sector customers. Ezinne has over 31 years work experience, with 29 years in banking, where she garnered diverse experiences in Banking Process Automation, Products Development & Improvement, Electronic Payments, Credit and Relationship Management, as well as Cash Management. She is a two-time winner of First Bank’s CEO Annual Merit Award of “Best Product Manager” in 2008 and 2009 consecutively.

Ezinne holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Computer Science from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, as well as a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Banking and Finance from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology. She has attended several executive training programmes at Kellogg School of Business, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA; University of California, Berkeley; INSEAD Business School, amongst others. She is a member of the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) and enjoys reading and cooking.

John Obaro

Managing Director

In addition to being the founder and Managing Director of SystemSpecs Limited, Mr John Obaro is a fellow of the Center for African Policy Development and Research, Glasgow, Scotland; a Fellow of Nigeria Computer Society (NCS); an ex-member of the Governing Council of Computers Professionals (Registration Council) of Nigeria (CPN) – the highest industry practice regulatory body; and immediate past 1st Vice President of the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON). John Obaro was recently recognised with the honour of Leadership in Technology at the 2016 African Achievement Awards in Scotland and also recognised as the ICT Software Personality of the Year 2016 at the Beacon of ICT (BoICT) Award, in addition to other numerous indigenous and international awards he has received over the years.

Having enjoyed a successful career with International Merchant Bank (IMB), John Obaro founded SystemSpecs some 25 years ago as a West African Partner to Systems Union, UK, offering the SunSystems suite of solutions. The company soon started developing its own proprietary Payroll and Human Resource Management solution, HumanManager, which has become the preferred choice for many leading public and private sector organisations in Nigeria and West Africa. John Obaro’s successful entrepreneurial adventure in software development architecture has attracted and continues to attract attention from both local and international quarters. The prestigious Lagos Business School (LBS) of the Pan-Atlantic University has written two case studies on SystemSpecs while many newspapers, magazines and journals have also featured him at one time or the other. John Obaro is a distinguished alumnus of both Ahmadu Bello University, University of Lagos, and the Chief Executive Program (CEP3) of Lagos Business School. He has served at various times on the Boards of the Ministerial Advisory Council on Information and Communication Technology, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria, Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN), Governing Council of the National ICT Incubation Program, and many more. He is a fellow of the Center for African Policy Development and Research, Glasgow, Scotland; a Fellow of Nigeria Computer Society (NCS); an ex-member of the Governing Council of Computers Professionals (Registration Council) of Nigeria (CPN) – the highest industry practice regulatory body; and immediate past 1st Vice President of the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON). John Obaro was recently recognised with the honour of Leadership in Technology at the 2016 African Achievement Awards in Scotland and also recognised as the ICT Software Personality of the Year 2016 at the Beacon of ICT (BoICT) Award, in addition to other numerous indigenous and international awards he has received over the years.

He is passionate about the promotion of Nigeria’s indigenous software industry as a capable and comparable rival to anywhere in the world. John Obaro is known in many circles as ‘The Consummate Innovator’. He is a trailblazer on many fronts, and indeed his footprint is evident across many sectors of the Nigerian economy.

‘Deremi Atanda

Executive Director

‘Deremi currently heads the directorate for Strategy and Marketing in SystemSpecs. As such, he is the face of the company on several fronts and features prominently on the local and international circuits as a speaker on national development, business ethics and youth development among other subject areas. ‘DeRemi is also the current chairman of the NPSV 2020 Joint Working Group on e-payment of Salaries, Pensions, Suppliers and Taxes (JWG-SPS&T). He enjoys working with self-confident and intelligent young people to become rounded business professionals able to assume multi-dimensional responsibilities.

‘DeRemi is a leading IT business and marketing strategist with extensive experience leading major national IT and e-payment initiatives. Leading a team of local and foreign organisations and consultants, he was the pioneer project delivery director of the very successful World Bank-assisted Federal Government Integrated Payroll & Personnel Information System (IPPIS) that started in November 2006 and went live in a record 6 months. Although he has become a well-respected name in the IT industry, ‘DeRemi did not study IT in the university. A graduate of Physics; by sheer inquisitiveness, probing and persistence, Deremi has cut a niche for himself not only in SystemSpecs but also in the Nigerian IT terrain. Very much at home and current on IT trends and issues, he is a strategic player in the SystemSpecs team. He led the vibrant team that successfully delivered one of the earliest and very challenging end-to-end e-payment initiatives of the Federal Government within 2 months, following the presidential directive of January 2009. This has gone on to become a model for other Federal and State MDAs. ‘DeRemi has operated in different roles and at different levels cutting across print production, sales and marketing, large scale enterprise solution delivery, project management, public sector relationship management, quality assurance and strategy in his professional career spanning more than two decades.

With a first degree from the University of Ibadan and an MBA from the Pan-Atlantic University (formerly Pan-African University), ‘DeRemi is also a year 2000 alumnus of the Advanced Management Program (AMP) of the Lagos Business School and a participant in Stanford University’s SEED Programme. Happily married with children, He is a member of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), loves travelling, and is an avid technology enthusiast.

Dr. Emmanuel Eze

Executive Director

Dr. Emmanuel Eze currently leads our Technology & Operations directrorate with responsibility for the design, engineering and delivery of software products of SystemSpecs. He is a seasoned IT professional with over 15 years’ experience in software architecture, web and mobile technologies, database and enterprise infrastructure management, research and development, IT security, among others. As the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of a foremost software company in Nigeria, Emmanuel has distinguished himself by creating technology solutions that impact many businesses in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.

He joined SystemSpecs in 2001 as a Senior Systems Executive and successfully led the design and development of probably the first Self-Service driven Payroll and HR software in Nigeria at a time most applications were still Client-Server based. He was part of the team that developed the solution that powered the Integrated Personnel & Payroll Information System (IPPIS) – a World Bank sponsored project worth millions of Dollars. The project provided a database of accurate records of Federal Civil Servants, eliminated “ghost” workers and saved the Federal Government Nigeria billions of Naira.

Emmanuel received his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from The University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Given his penchant for excellence and thoroughness, it is no surprise that in 2003 he decided to go for further studies in the United Kingdom where he earned a PhD in Computer Science at the University of Hull. Also an alumnus of Oxford Advanced Management and Leadership Programme of the Said Business School, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, Emmanuel is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS), a Senior Member of IEEE Computer Society (SMIEEE), a Member of Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (MCPN), a Member of Nigeria Computer Society (MNCS), and a Member of Association of Computing Machinery (MACM). He represents SystemSpecs in a number of Vision2020 Sub-committees of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Emmanuel has attended numerous professional training programmes at home and abroad and has contributed book chapters and published scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and conferences.