Conveying a significant development, a Nigerian-owned fintech company, Convexity Technologies Limited, has unveiled an app designed to monitor the disbursement of palliatives and donor funding to specified beneficiaries.
After a meeting with representatives of the French Embassy in Abuja on Tuesday, the Chief Operating Officer of Convexity, Adedeji Owonibi, made the announcement.
In his interaction with journalists, Adedeji explained that the app, called CHATS, facilitates comprehensive tracking of funds and aid distribution from donors, implementing bodies, to beneficiaries, ensuring an efficient process.
He emphasized that the solution aims to tackle the challenge of palliative diversion by tracing aid delivery from donors or government to NGOs, agents, and designated beneficiaries.
The digital solution, incorporating blockchain technology, has been developed by the company to digitize the process of funding teachers’ salaries, food items, and other donations, addressing the dwindling humanitarian funding and ensuring direct fund allocation to beneficiaries.
Adedeji commented, “The app is intended to enhance transparency and provide practical solutions to the ecosystem. We identify local issues and tackle them using local solutions.
For instance, one of our recent solutions focused on palliative distribution. We recognized the transparency issue and developed a solution that offers end-to-end visibility to donors, implementing bodies, and beneficiaries within a small suite.
“Transparency in aid distribution is crucial for us, and beyond transparency, it instills confidence in both local and international donors.
“A UK publication previously suggested that Nigeria’s corruption levels are so high that it’s better to burn donations. However, we have addressed this by creating a solution that fosters transparency, allowing donors to track the utilization of their contributions.”
He also urged the government to consider employing this method to rebuild public trust in the various social safety net programs currently in effect.
“The next step is to encourage the government to utilize this solution to regain public trust, especially since a significant portion of the projects is channeled through social safety nets. With a solution like this, the government can achieve transparency and donors can trace the impact of their funds, ensuring that the money is used for its intended purposes.
“We recently achieved a success story with the Red Cross by halting the diversion of drugs. Previously, drugs would end up in pharmacies and chemists the day after being delivered to Internally Displaced Persons camps.
“In collaboration with the Red Cross, our solution involved identifying the beneficiaries who require malaria vaccines and drugs. They were onboarded, and with a QR code, they could visit a chemist, scan the code, and receive their drugs while the chemist received payment directly through the app. This eliminated hoarding, ensuring that only those who required treatment received the necessary medication,” he explained.
NewsNow has reported an increasing demand for a transparent method of disbursing relief items in the country.
Recently, a senior special assistant to the Kano state governor, Tasiu Al’amin-Roba, was apprehended for allegedly diverting the state’s palliatives intended for distribution to the underprivileged.