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  • Zone debuts with decentralised PoS payment gateway

    Zone debuts with decentralised PoS payment gateway

    IN a bid to eliminate failure points, charge backs and chargeback fraud which are rife with online transactions, Africa’s fast-growing payment infrastructure company, Zone, has announced the arrival of its highly anticipated POS Payment Gateway product. 

    Built on the latest version of its next-gen payment infrastructure, it is powered by blockchain technology.

    Speaking with The Nation, CEO/co-founder, Zone, Obi Emetarom, said the platform is a decentralized network of banks and fintechs powered by blockchain and focused on enabling domestic and cross-border payments. 

    Following the success of its ATM transaction processing service, he said the roll-out of their PoS payment gateway further fulfils their promise of delivering reliable, frictionless and universally interoperable payments across multiple payment channels.

    He added the introduction of the payment gateway product brings a comprehensive payment processing solution to banks and fintechs that deploy PoS payment terminals. 

    “We promise transaction reliability through direct routing of transactions to issuers, same-day settlement for beneficiaries and their financial institutions and a robust framework eliminating chargebacks and chargeback fraud.     

    Also, as a CBN-licensed payment switch, we can implement direct transaction routing to issuers without violating regulatory guidelines on inter-bank payments,” he said.

    He went on to add that the gateway boasts a regulated layer-1 blockchain network, which guarantees security, reliability and transparency of every transaction. 

    “Its superior architecture endows the PoS payment gateway with several key features including, Direct Card Routing- which connects acquirers directly to issuers through its decentralised payment switching network. 

    “This architecture optimises the PoS transaction route and eliminates failure points thereby guaranteeing increased speed and reliability of each transaction for the benefit of merchants, agents and cardholders alike.

     “Its advanced payment gateway eliminates chargebacks and chargeback fraud on PoS terminals by auto-refunding customers for unsuccessful transactions and auto-declining fraudulent chargebacks in real-time, thereby building a foundation of trust and satisfaction among all parties involved.

    “Also, settlement of payments from PoS terminals is effected on the same day  and separately for each transaction, ensuring faster availability of funds for both agents and merchants alike, making it easy to determine when value has been received for every transaction.

    “Today marks a pivotal moment not just for us at Zone, but also for the financial institutions we enable, and the esteemed customers they serve. 

    Read Also: My agenda for the people of North Central Zone – Tinubu

    “Our PoS payment gateway product is a commitment to financial inclusion and to the digital future of all payments in Africa. With this new offering, we are excited to have taken yet another major step towards our vision for a world where individuals and businesses can make and receive instant payments to and from anyone in the world, through any payment method and in any currency,” he said.

     Zone’s PoS Payment Gateway emerges as a distinct solution that sets a new standard in the industry. 

    While a few leading fintechs have made some strides towards improving the quality of service specifically for their own PoS terminals, Zone’s offering goes a step further by making such improvements and related advanced features, accessible to all financial service providers in the industry. 

    This democratization of cutting-edge technology ensures that all institutions utilising Zone’s product for PoS-based transaction processing can now enjoy superior levels of transaction reliability, and operational efficiency while delivering delightful payment experiences to their own customers each and every time.

  • Investments in Onne Free Zone hit $8b

    The investment in the Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone (OGFG) has exceeded $8 billion, according to the Head of Business Development, Orlean Invest Africa Limited, Akintoye Akinpelu.

    Addressing delegates at the 5th Practical Nigerian Content at the Onne Port, Rivers State, he said the firm, which the Federal Government commissioned in 1997 to attract fresh investment into the country and also promote local and regional economic growth, has now generated 30,000 direct employments and over 50,000 indirect employments.

    He added that the firm was in partnership with the Federal Government and Lagos State Government to build an airstrip in Onne for light aircrafts that would be able to move from Lagos to Onne.

    His words: “We have our plans to within Onne today to build an airstrip in Onne. An airstrip that will be able to accommodate a light aircraft to land and at the same time to be able to move from Lagos. We are in partnership with the Lagos State government and the Federal Government and the Lekki International Airport.”

  • North Korea’s new time zone to break from ‘imperialism’

    North Korea has decided  to switch to a new time zone to mark its liberation from the Japanese at the end of World War Two, according to  state media.

    North Korea is currently in the same time zone as South Korea and Japan, which are nine hours ahead of GMT.

    But the Pyongyang Time will see the clocks put back by 30 minutes on 15 August.

    State news agency, KCNA, said “wicked Japanese imperialists” had “deprived Korea of even its standard time” by changing the clocks during occupation.

    The entire Korean peninsula – then one country – was 8.5 hours ahead of GMT until Japan colonised it in 1910.

    KCNA quoted officials as saying the decision to adopt the Pyongyang Time reflected “the unshakeable faith and will of the service personnel and people on the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation”.

    South Korea said the move could cause some short-term inconvenience at the Kaesong industrial plant in North Korea, jointly run by the two Koreas.

    “And in the longer term, there may be some fallout for efforts to unify standards and reduce differences between the two sides,” Unification Ministry official Jeong Joon-Hee said.

    There is no international body that approves a country’s change of time zone as countries decide for themselves.

    In 2011, Samoa changed its time zone to the other side of the international dateline, losing one day, so as to make communication easier with neighbours, Australia and New Zealand.

    And North Korea is not the only country that has created its own unique time zone.

    In 2007, Venezuela decided to turn its clocks back by half an hour as President Hugo Chavez wanted to have a “more fair distribution of the sunrise” to residents.

    Venezuela is now the only country with a time zone 4.5 hours behind GMT.

  • Southeast APC faults Ekweremadu on zone’s voting for PDP

    Southeast APC faults Ekweremadu on zone’s voting for PDP

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Southeast has berated Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu for his statement that Ndigbo will vote for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) again.

    The party said the Southeast, if given another chance, would not vote for PDP because according to it, ‘impunity will no longer triumph’.

    A statement by the party’s spokesman in the zone, Osita Okechukwu said: “With President Buhari’s program to revamp Enugu coal, build refineries, fix our roads, improve electricity among other projects, we see the Southeast and Southsouth providing the critical supplement to President Buhari’s vote bank in 2019.

    “Whereas, we do not begrudge our dear brother for his re-election, it beats our imagination that he relied on gossip-terrorists in reaching the conclusion that the Southeast and Southsouth will be marginalised; this is miles away from the truth.

    “We are at a loss as to why Ekweremadu chose to play this spoiler game, by wittingly or unwittingly throwing spanner on our wheel to clinch the coveted office of Deputy Senate President. Pundits may grab his unintended headline that we have been settled.

    “To us, without being immodest, one may amass wealth with the office; but Deputy Senate President in real-politics is more symbolic than substantial.

    “For the records we appeal that the Southeast and Southsouth, especially we of the APC stock should not be denied any position due to us because of our brother’s unintended headline that we have been settled.

    “In sum, we re-affirm our implicit confidence that President Muhammadu Buhari will not marginalise or penalise neither the Southeast nor the Southsouth; for Mr. President has repeatedly maintained that he belongs to everybody and that the past is gone”.

  • ‘APC should zone Senate President to Northeast’

    ‘APC should zone Senate President to Northeast’

    The Senator representing Yobe East District in the upper chamber, Abba Bukar, has urged the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to zone the Senate Presidency to the Northeast region. He said it will be unfair to zone the Senate Presidency to the Northcentral and the Speakership position of the House of Representatives to the Southwest.

    Speaking in Abuja, Bukar, a former governor of Yobe State, who was elected for the third time into the Senate at the general elections, said the proper thing to do was to zone the Senate Presidency or the Speakers of the House to the Northeast, as against the Deputy Senate Presidency proposed for the region.

    He said: “This first step so far taken is a wrong step. The Adhoc Committee has made recommendation to the leadership of the party. The recommendation is totally wrong, biased and heavily lopsided. I just hope the party will do something about it. I hope Mr. President-elect will do something about it. Of course, whatever anybody says, whatever the party says, whatever the President-elect says, at the end of day, it is the members of the National Assembly who are going to elect their leaders any way. So, I just hope this first step is corrected. It is wrong for this committee to recommend that North Central which has produced four different Senate Presidents in this country should continue to produce another Senate President, while the Northeast has never ever produced a single Senate President; never ever produced a single Speaker. The highest we have ever held in the northeast zone is the Deputy Speaker. Now again, the zone is not given the Senate President or at least even the Speakership.”

    Bukar added: “The southwest which has the Vice President is again given the Speakership. This is very, very unfair. This is a continuous marginalisation of the northeast which we have been fighting against all this while. The continuous marginalization and neglect of the northeast has always been our bane. We have always been relegated to the background.

    With over 50 years of marginalisation, they made us poverty-stricken, the poorest part of Nigeria, the most underdeveloped part of Nigeria. They still want to continue the same practice. This is the practice of the Southwest, the North Central. The North West of course has always been everywhere marginalising us. Now they have the President, they still want to continue to marginalize us. So, this is a very wrong step. I just hope we are not going to go along that line.”

  • What is in it for the zone?

    As the APC launches it’s mobilisation campaigns in the zone, one major argument has been what the zone stands to gain by voting for the party?

    In the recent meeting held by some APC leaders in Enugu, the political association said it wants PDP out of power because the latter’s administration at the federal level has been deceiving the people of the South-East geo-political zone who have been voting massively for it since 1999.

    It listed three projects initiated by the PDP administration in the South-East but which it claimed have not been executed.

    The projects are Onitsha Sea Port, Second Niger Bridge, and 3-D Seismic Survey for Enugu Coal-Fired-Plant.

    It said, “We are bidding good- bye to the PDP because the South-East since 1999 had voted massively for the PDP at every election and none of the promises made has been fulfilled. What we witnessed is ‘April fool’ fanfare launching of Onitsha Sea Port by President Goodluck Jonathan and six months down the line no boat not to talk of sea vessel had berthed in the so called port.

    “In another make belief few weeks ago we were told that the Second Niger Bridge has been awarded and we ask – where is the design of the bridge? Where is the environmental impact assessment? Where is the property valuation report? What is the cost of the contract?

    “Thirdly, the 3-D Seismic Survey’s money budgeted for Enugu Coal-Fired-Plant initiated by Professor Barth Nnaji in the 2012 Budget ; we understand has grown wings and flew into the pockets of very important officials of President Jonathan administration,” they alleged.

    Already, besides the mere clamour for change, leaders of the party in the South-East are alleged to have claimed the zone will, under the APC, get at least the vice presidential ticket in 2015 and other influential political positions.

    But Chief Israel Ukaukwu, an APC chieftain in Abia State, in his reaction to the claim, to.d The Nation, “We are not even crazy of top political positions for now. What is of more importance to us is that we want governors that will transform all South-East states the way the current APC governors are doing in the South-West, Edo and in Imo. That is enough conviction that we should consider APC. “