Less known in the public domain, but John Obaro is the face behind Remita, the financial management power house, which powers the most successful financial management policy in Nigeria, the Treasury Single Account (TSA), making it a source of national pride.
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Twenty-seven years ago, John Obaro established the indigenous fintech trailblazer; Systemspecs. The Kogi State born tech aficionado bet on himself at a time when the business landscape was not particularly receptive of technology, but he was unwavering in his beliefs and eventually emerged on the winning side.
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Obaro studied Mathematics and Computer Science at the Ahmadu Bello University because the name was “fancy’’ and he felt it would be more prestigious to graduate with double honours. He subsequently graduated with a SecondClass Upper degree before embarking on his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree at the University of Lagos.
At the completion of his MBA, Obaro secured a job as a computer salesman at Leventis Group. Subsequently, he commenced his sojourn in the banking industry with the United Bank for Africa and later the International Merchant Bank of Nigeria. The innate yearning to champion the adoption of technology in Africa precipitated his resignation from IMB, thereby leaving a life of relative comfort to establishing the 5- man Systemspecs.
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At incorporation, Systemspecs entered a partnership with Systems Union, now Infor, as a value-added reseller of Sunsystems- an accounting package. Notwithstanding the deal, the company needed a sum of N1million to actualise the plan developed by its founder. Knowing that banks would not be favourably disposed to loan out such an amount to a start-up, the innate creativity of Obaro once again came to fore.
Having been a participant of a training programme at Cranford University in the United Kingdom, Obaro swiftly wooed the organisers into partnering his firm to bring the training to Nigeria. The first edition drew 19 participants at a fee of N5,000 which summarily provided the operational cost of running the business. Things got even better for Systemspecs as the participants of the programme requested a follow-up engagement, which bolstered the firm’s coffers.
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Gradually, the growth of the firm gathered momentum with the development of unique solutions such as SpecMan and Specpen that later resulted in the development of its human resource payroll technology called Humanmanager. The software received positive reviews not only in Nigeria but across the African continent, with firms in Ghana swiftly adopting it.
Similarly, following the enactment of the Pension Reform Act of 2004, the firm identified a void in the market pertaining to payroll processing and schedule preparation for different Pension Fund Administrators, and this precipitated the
development of Remita. The first version of the application not only seamlessly transferred salaries from companies’ accounts to employees’ but also delivered pension schedules to Pension Fund Custodians and Pension Fund Administrators while handling taxes for all parties.
Thereafter, the scope of the application expanded following a pitch at a multinational where a director expressed uneasiness with the salary payments being automatic whilst payment to vendors and partners remained manual. According to Obaro, the contract was lost but the company acquired something infinitely greater than the financial loss; an insight for an even bigger platform. Obaro and his team then incorporated vendor payments into Remita and till date, it is continually equipped with innovative features.
Since development, Remita has been a trailblazer, setting trends that other fintech apps have but followed. Remita was hugely popular amongst corporates but to a lesser degree of popularity in the public domain prior to 2015. Still, it is imperative to touch on the process that led to the emergence of the application as the preferred platform for the Treasury Single Account policy.
In 2010, CBN visited Systemspecs during a customary inspection of electronic payment companies and discovered the prowess of Remita to facilitate the policy. The apex bank consequently invited the company to make a presentation at its Abuja office. The presentation went according to plan and Systemspecs was adjudged the preferred technology provider, subsequently conducting the pilot scheme of the policy with just over 100 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAS).
President Buhari, in 2015, appraised the success of the pilot TSA scheme conducted with just over 100 MDAS under the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan and deemed it worthy of continuity thereby instructing all MDAS to fully comply with it.
Trouble lay in wait for the company when a member of the Senate was alleged to have wrongly accused the company of being a vessel of corruption and making billions of naira for private pockets on a daily basis. The accusation resulted in a succession of unsavoury events leading to the company fielding multiple questions from the members of the senate at the House of Assembly and also affirming its innocence in a letter to the President. Whilst the controversy raged, Obaro and his team were instructed to return the funds it had made via commission for running the policy, which they obliged without fuss despite not being legally compelled to do so.
The act of reimbursing the national treasury with its revenue for using its technology to drive a policy represents one of the most nationalistic and iconic acts in the history of the nation. The truth came to bear, and the company was cleared of the allegations but not without a downward review of its commission, which was discernibly lower than the industry standard at the time and global benchmark. According to Obaro, the commission mattered not so much as the significance of the project to the economic advancement of the nation.
Despite the success recorded in its dealings with the government, SystemSpecs remains unrelenting in its service to the corporate sector. The firm’s data referencing solution remains the software of choice for banks willing to grant loans to its customers with steady sources of income.
Also, the brand’s payroll and human resource management software, Humanmanager, enjoys high patronage by corporates and multinationals alike.
Predictably, the company teamed up with Access Bank, Ghana, in 2018, to introduce Remita Payroll in the country. The payroll system is designed to make it extremely easy for businesses, NonGovernmental Organisations, and the Small and Medium Enterprises to effortlessly manage monthly salary processing.
Also, in a bid to further assist the growth of small and medium-sized organisations grappling with the harsh realities of running a business, Obaro’s Systemspecs in 2018, announced the launch of Remita SME Suite.
Remita SME Suite helps enterprises to reach immediate and larger markets, get paid easily for goods and services through multiple channels, including bank branches nationwide, electronic banking, debit/credit cards and mobile wallets; boost profit margins; seamlessly manage employee affairs; keep organisational and transactional records; and ultimately access SME loans.
Similarly, the firm’s payment infrastructure & gateway has received high uptake by the developer community and online merchants to ensure optimum user experience whilst surfing their sites.
Just like other inspiring individuals making waves around the globe, John Obaro has received-and is still receivinghis fair share of awards and accolades. In 2018, Obaro joined the ranks of Aliko Dangote, Ibukun Awosika among others when he received the Annual FATE Model Entrepreneur Award organised by the renowned FATE Foundation.
On the technology scene, Obaro was inducted into the Beacon of ICT (BOICT) Awards in April. He is no stranger to getting recognised by BOICT as he emerged Software Personality of the Year in 2016 and ICT Man of the Year in 2018. Additionally, in 2016, he was inaugurated as a Fellow of the Centre for African Research & Development Scotland.
He was also adjudged winner of Engineer Simeon Agu Prize for Best Software Entrepreneur at the National Information Technology Merit Award (NITMA) in 2015.
The business terrain is uniquely characterised by dynamism and paradigm shifts mandating companies to constantly adapt their modes of operation or run the risk of getting antiquated.
John Obaro has led Systemspecs for close to three decades in the rapidly evolving and challenging technology sector, cementing the brand’s status as industry thought leaders while pioneering innovation in the field.
His organisation has little to no ethical disputes on account of his moral standards that permeate his business. Obaro’s rise to prominence via sheer persistence and invention nullifies the pervasive belief that success in the Nigerian business environment only comes by way of inducements and graft.
