Uganda President sends delegation to explore UBA’s IT solutions
A high powered delegation from the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni was at the iconic UBA House in Lagos on August 2nd and 3rd, 2016 on a special mission.
Last May, Chairman UBA Plc and serial entrepreneur and philanthropist, Tony Elumelu visited Uganda as a special guest of Ugandan President Museveni. During this visit, discussions ensued where Elumelu talked about the world class IT solutions offered by UBA across Africa to governments seeking to improve public sector efficiency, especially in the areas of payments and collections. UBA’s IT solutions on the continent also assist governments in improving transparency, reduce corruption and increase government revenues.
Tony Elumelu left Uganda after having made an impression on President Museveni who continued subsequent discussions with representatives from UBA Group’s Ugandan subsidiary. These discussions led to the president putting together a high powered delegation to visit UBA’s Head office in Nigeria and verify the IT solutions offered by the bank.
The Uganda delegation landed in Lagos on Monday, August 2 led by Mosses Kagwa, Commissioner, Tax Policy at the Ministry of Finance. Other members of the delegation included; Byamukama Kareere Godfrey, Senior Economist, Ministry of Finance, Fred Andema, Deputy Director Compliance, Kampala Capital City Authority, Godfrey B Semugooma, Commissioner, Finance Management at the Ministry of Finance, James Kayongo, Unified Communications Architect; National Information Technology Authority (NITAU) , Uganda and Otonga Micheal Ochan, Commissioner Corporate Services, Uganda Revenue Authority; and Charles Felix Olaker, Assistant Commissioner, Ministry of Local Government, Uganda.
For two days, they were taken on a tour of the various departments to explore UBA’s world class IT offerings, including its world class IT security centre. The delegation also had an opportunity to visit UBA customers that have already deployed the bank’s IT solutions and see on a first hand basis, how it has improved the efficiency of their operations.
The highlight of their visit was a cocktail reception hosted in their honour by the banks chairman Tony Elumelu on the 18th Floor of UBA house which gave them an opportunity to meet and network with key staff.
In his remarks at the cocktail, Tony Elumelu thanked the UBA delegation for coming to UBA House, recalling that their visit was instigated by the presentation he made to President Museveni during his visit to Uganda.
“I am really impressed that the His Excellency, President Museveni followed up on my visit by sending you here to verify for yourself the facilities we have on ground to support the revenue payments and collections in Uganda. It shows he is a capable President leading an efficient team. UBA is an African bank set up to provide African solutions to African needs” Elumelu said.
He expressed the hope that the delegation is now convinced with what they have seen that UBA has the capacity to help the Ugandan government achieve its aims of improving governance through improve tax collections and efficient, transparent payment systems in Uganda.
Kennedy Uzoka, UBA’s new GMD/CEO who was also on hand to welcome the Ugandan delegation said that that meeting them was his first external meeting since resuming on August 1, which made it special. He assured them that UBA has built the capacity that no other African bank can boast of in IT, enabling the bank to monitor all its e-transactions globally in real time and quickly block illegal or unusual transactions on customer’s accounts.
“No matter where our customers go in the world, we are watching over their transactions to ensure that they are the ones using their cards”
Leader of the Ugandan delegation, Mosses Kagwa, Commissioner, Tax Policy at the Ministry of Finance, thanked UBA for the wonderful reception they have received since coming into the country.
“We have been treated like royalty since we arrived. We have been really pampered and made to feel at home. In our tour of the facilities, we have been able to see that UBA has African grown solutions to African problems, which makes UBA a very good partner. We have been impressed by things like the UBA co-branded cards for universities, which we will look to implement in all public universities in Uganda. We will also be considering adopting the UBA payment platform for the Treasury Single Account (TSA) in Uganda. Uganda has a large under banked and unbanked population and we will be exploring how the solutions offered by UBA can be used to reach this segment of the population” Kagwa said.
Johnson Agoreyo, Managing Director and CEO of UBA Uganda, who was delighted at the positive reviews from the UBA delegation expressed confidence that the Ugandan government will adopt many of innovative IT solutions being offered by UBA.
“The concept of e-governance is big in Uganda and that is what makes UBA IT solutions attractive. Already, the Ministry of Finance has adopted UBA Prepaid cards for fuel purchases. In fact, UBA Prepaid cards are now the preferred cards in Uganda with even competing banks asking their customers to go get them for their travels.”
The UBA Ugandan delegation has left to go back to Uganda as the relationship between UBA and the government of Uganda strengthens with the banks resolve to assist the government to drive efficiency in government payments and collection systems as well as promoting financial inclusion in the country.
AI
