SystemSpecs Children’s Day Essay Competition: Frequently Asked Questions

Mujib is a thoroughbred technologist and an unrelenting pursuer of innovation. He joined SystemSpecs in 2011 and currently the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Remita, an electronic payment platform.

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.

In addition to being the founder and Group Managing Director of SystemSpecs Limited, Mr John Obaro is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria; 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 a fellow and past 1st Vice President of the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON). John Obaro was 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 30 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.

In the last decade, SystemSpecs has become a leader in the Nigerian e-payment space with its Remita solution, which enables efficient and easy payment and collection of funds for individuals and corporate organisations (both public and private) on a SINGLE inter-bank platform. Remita, as a payment gateway, pioneered the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) project for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and processes about $6 Billion worth of transactions on a monthly basis.

As part of its plans to impact and contribute to the growth of the financial services industry, SystemSpecs has had several notable partnerships with banks for services including payroll white-labelling, data referencing and payday loan.

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 (iDea), and many more.

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

Educational Qualification

• Graduate of Physics, University of Ibadan

• MBA from the Pan-Atlantic University (formerly Pan-African University).

• Year 2000 alumnus of the Advanced Management Program (AMP) of the Lagos Business School

• Participant in Stanford University’s SEED Programme.

Professional Summary

• Over the past 27 years, he has played different roles in the conceptualisation, development, implementation and provision of strategic leadership for many large private and public sector initiatives spanning data aggregation, payroll and pension systems, payments infrastructure and operations, business development, marketing, change management, as well as policy development and execution. He’s also been involved in start-ups and business leaders’ mentoring.

Achievements, Recognitions & Awards

• 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.

• 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.

• Member of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS)

Interests/Hobbies/Others

• Traveling and is an avid technology enthusiast.

Family Life

• Happily married with children

‘Deremi Atanda

Managing Director, Remita Payment Services Limited

‘Deremi is the Managing Director of Remita Payment Services Limited. 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.

Demola Igbalajobi

Managing Director, SystemSpecs Technology Limited

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.

Udo Ngele, popularly known as ‘Udy’, is responsible for developing and implementing information security programs, which include procedures and policies designed to protect our enterprise communications, systems and assets. He previously managed the infrastructure platforms and services on which enterprise applications run by SystemSpecs’ group of companies.

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.

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.