In November 2023, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, will complete the process of developing and deploying its Electronic Demand Note and Electronic Receipts, EDER, technology. Godfrey AKON reports on the benefits the technology promises to offer.
Technology incredibly transforms the business environment, offers better ways of doing business, promoting government’s trade policies and leveraging viable opportunities, among others.
As a vital tool for overcoming obstacles to daily business transactions, it offers convenience to customer experience, saves time and eases operations on both sides.
Poised to appropriate these benefits, the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, SON, has developed and deployed Electronic Demand Note and Electronic Receipts, EDER, technology.
SON’s EDER is an online payment scheme designed to offer an end-to-end transactional experience for all its customers and business partners as well as internal organisational functions.
The online payment system and receipting format for customers is intended to reduce the time spent on visiting SON offices and create a transparency and accountability-based process.
According to the Director General of SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, “this electronic mode of business payments and receipts provides ease of transfer, instant transfer, reduce hand-to-hand exchange of paper money as benefits to all users besides payments without compromise and a payment system that removes multiple data entry errors.”
Salim spoke in Kano at the recent stakeholders’ sensitization programme on EDER, saying “the essence of the E-demand notes and receipts is to promote the Federal Government’s policy on “Ease of Doing Business” where accountability and transparency is the watchword.”
While providing an overview of the technology, SON’s Director of Finance and Administration, Mr. Tam George, said EDER is to make the process of payment and collection of receipt already in place become electronic.
George explained that if SON gives you any service, the prices are given and you are issued a demand but instead of manual demand notes, the demand notes are issued electronically.
“That electronic platform is then linked to Remita. So, before anybody goes to the bank, the bank is already aware of what you paid for. So, from there, the Remita platform will send a message to the electronic receipt platform and the receipt will be issued to you electronically.
“The prices are standardized and there is no room for leakages. The customer or client that will be coming will no longer move from office to office to collect receipt. For example, in Apapa (Lagos) your services will be provided, you get there to get a Demand Note, go to the bank to pay and get back to the same office which is cumbersome.
“But now, the Demand Note will be issued to you in the comfort of your home, you will make payment electronically from the comfort of your home, you will receive the receipt from the comfort of your home, then your goods or services will be delivered,” he said.
According to the finance director, the innovation which is an electronically one-stop-shop is to make transactions simple for people doing business with SON.
He further stated that there are back ends to it such that if you ask for a service in SON and pay for the service, you would immediately identify and track the process because there are prices that are not automatically fixed as they are function of range.
“As a function of range, you need to upload the subsidiary documentation that would warrant that price. So, somebody needs to check the user department to be sure that what he puts in is correct. If it is correct and genuine, it will be allowed to be checked, approval given and then be returned to you. With this process, you will be able to know when your Demand Note and Receipt will be given to you. It will not be like a forever transaction,” he said.
On how EDER can enhance ease of doing business in the country, he said with this electronic process, you are able to know who is holding it, when he is holding it and when the process will be completed, adding that it shows ease of doing business through transparency and accountability.
While describing EDER as a supporting service to the certification process, he expressed confidence that it will make the certification process in Nigeria for the goods SON regulate to be made easy, thereby playing a major role in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, AfCFTA.
“What is certify overseas like Ghana is automatically certified in Nigeria. If we do not have our processes streamlined to make it shortened electronically, we will not be able to compete with people who already have the process in place. So, it will be an advantage to our certification process,” he said
Speaking on the security of the electronic platform, George said EDER has a strong electronic security system subscribed from Israel.
He however noted that despite being a hacker-proof, there is no electronic process and system that you can say is 100 per cent secure even in overseas, adding that SON will keep improving on it to make sure that new technology that will keep on securing the platform is attached to it.
On how the average Nigerian will benefit from EDER, he said it will solve the problem of unemployment for some Nigerian youth as the electronic platform being deployed is an indigenous one and the contractors are indigenous.
“It will also reduce the cost of production, cost of certification. For instance, if we are doing factory inspection and the results come out very often, it will make Nigerians understand the cost of production and the timing for production is less. Because, certification is a very fundamental aspect of the value chain,” he said.
As a normal electronic process, the SON does not plan to launch or deploy it once, but will implement it product by product to understand the pitfalls that may emanate from it and manage the crisis that might arise.
“We will stagger it process by process. We will take SONCAP, MANCAP then PORTS & BORDER. We will take a week to resolve all the problems that will emanate from SONCAP and another week to resolve that of MANCAP then same to PORTS & BORDER.
“At the end of it all, as we are deploying, we are also solving the sparks that would come from solving such introduction. Because to introduce such things normally, you have to have a war room,” George said.
Speaking on challenges to the deployment of the technology, he said “The challenges are that of stiff resistance to change which is normal to a system because people don’t understand how to manage change.
“It took us time to bring all the people onboard. To electronise a system of payment that has been manual for a long period of time since the creation of SON is not a day’s effort. You have to have a buy in from a lot of people to get it done. The other aspect of it that I see, this change is going to affect people but they don’t know the dimension it will affect them because to electronise a system means you are blocking leakages which translates to blocking corruption.
“It is very difficult to remove a meal that someone is use to which led to perceived resistance. Everybody wants it just on the lips but internally they are resisting it but I think the management entirely has a buy in.”