What began as a humble payroll feature nestled within an HR application has blossomed into a fintech titan. Remita, the brainchild of Nigerian technology powerhouse SystemSpecs, now stands as a robust payment ecosystem processing over ₦60 trillion annually. With a Tier 1 license from the Central Bank of Nigeria firmly in hand, this indigenous innovation is setting its sights beyond national borders, charting a bold course for continental expansion.
The extraordinary journey of Remita will take center stage in the upcoming cover story of eGovernance Nigeria Magazine, a publication by the Technology Times media brand (Digital Transformation Media Limited – DTML). In an exclusive interview with the magazine, Mr. Deremi Atanda, Managing Director/CEO of Remita Payment Services Limited, unveils the inspiring tale of the platform’s evolution, a narrative brimming with grit, vision, and the unwavering spirit of indigenous innovation making global strides.
“We’ve become an ecosystem of rails, products, and services,” Mr. Atanda explains, his voice resonating with quiet confidence. “Layering all of that with the many different customers we’ve had, typically every year we process more than maybe ₦60 trillion in transactions in Nigerian Naira. And this can only grow, especially as we begin to think of a vibrant Pan-African expansion. We’re at the fringe of that.”
The genesis of this powerhouse was surprisingly modest. As Mr. Atanda recounts, “What many people know today as Remita started as a feature within our HR/payroll application. You process salaries, and you just want to pay—so just remit salaries. And by the way, that’s where the name ‘Remita’ came from: Remittance. We just took out one ‘T’ and left it at ‘A.’”
Even the company’s logo, with its three ascending dots, subtly narrates this transformation. “I don’t know if you’ve seen our logo—it has three dots, in ascending size. There are many stories in that logo. It started as a feature, and then we brought it out as a product,” Mr. Atanda elaborates.
However, the path to becoming a fintech leader wasn’t without its challenges. Mr. Atanda vividly recalls their initial foray as a standalone product. “The first time we brought it out as a product was to bid for the National Pension Commission. This was in 2004, with the PenCom Act. We packaged this into a product in less than two weeks to take care of end-to-end pensions as it was conceived. Trust me, that vision is still viable today. But we lost that bid.”
Undeterred, SystemSpecs demonstrated remarkable agility. “We went back and said, ‘What do we do with this asset?’ If it’s not going to work for pensions, let it become a product. And that’s how we renamed pensions.com.ng as Remita, and it became a product.” This pivot proved to be a masterstroke. As demand grew, Remita’s functionality expanded beyond its initial payroll focus. “Some people want to do their payroll and just make payments, so let them have a site to go to. Later, it evolved into not just payroll payments. People wanted to do other types of payments. If you want to do non-salary payments, you go to Remita,” Mr. Atanda explains. Today, Remita stands tall as an independent entity, a testament to its organic growth. “So those three things—feature, product, company. That’s been the evolution.”
Armed with a Tier 1 license from the Central Bank of Nigeria, Remita now operates as a comprehensive fintech powerhouse. “We do switching, we do payment service provisioning, we do super agency, we do terminals—everything you can think about. We provide some basic services within the payment space, including payment service advisory,” Mr. Atanda states.
A significant, yet often untold, chapter in Remita’s growth story involves the creation of Nigeria’s first account-to-account switch. “Before TSA, we had built a rail—Nigeria’s first account-to-account switch, worked with all the banks. Not many people know that story. Account-to-account. The front of it, the application, and the rail—first of its kind.”
The pivotal moment arrived with the Treasury Single Account (TSA) deal with the Federal Government of Nigeria. Mr. Atanda reflects on this milestone with a touch of pragmatism. “TSA was a happenstance. The government was looking to solve a problem, and we were looking to get regulated. It’s that term people use—when they say ‘luck,’ it’s just preparation meeting opportunity.” He further adds, “These have been some of those moments where you feel validated, where the visionary leadership that set the business up feels the vision is being realized.”
Today, Remita proudly employs over 300 Nigerians and is poised for its next ambitious phase: continental expansion. “The vision is huge, and we’re committed to that. So, we see exponential growth, and we’re positioning for that,” Mr. Atanda affirms.
Mr. Shina Badaru, Chairman of DTML, underscores the significance of Remita’s journey. “Remita’s success highlights the critical role of indigenous technology solutions in redefining Africa’s digital economy,” he states. “As the cover story of the next issue of eGovernance Nigeria Magazine, we aim to showcase how homegrown innovation is not only solving problems locally but is also poised to transform markets across the African continent.”
According to Mr. Badaru, “Remita’s inspiring journey connects seamlessly with our article of faith to continue to showcase Nigeria’s growing contributions to the global technology industry.” eGovernance Nigeria Magazine, with its robust multi-platform presence, is ideally positioned to amplify this narrative. “This feature not only celebrates Remita’s evolution,” Mr. Badaru adds, “but also signals a pivotal shift in the narrative of Nigerian and African technology—from survival to scale, from local impact to continental transformation.”
As Remita sets its sights on the diverse markets of Africa, it carries the promise of enhanced financial inclusion, robust digital infrastructure, and innovative fintech solutions for underserved populations. Built on a strong foundation of technological prowess and guided by a clear vision, this Nigerian success story is ready to script its next remarkable chapter on the continental stage.