Chams Cuts Ties with Government over $100m Debt

Chams Holdings Plc, leading provider of integrated identity management, has said that it is no longer working with the government and government-owned entities following a $100m debt it said it incurred as a result of government shortcomings.

Demola Aladekomo, chairman of the group, made this revelation at their Facts Behind The Figures presentation at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).

Aladekomo infomed the capital market stakeholders that  “The major project that you all supported us to get done, based on the antecedents that you saw, after we pioneered e-payment system and other technologies and we just delivered the Independent National Electoral Commission project at that time (failed). Unfortunately, we got into the National ID debacle from where we lost about 100 million dollars due to the government irresponsibility, I don’t want to say. The government made life impossible for the company, leading to a $100m loss. We came to the exchange and told them what was happening.  That created a lot of issues for us. We practically lost all the money you gave us at that point in time.

“What the management has done in the past few years is to stabilise the company and for the past six quarters, we started growing rapidly. Then the vision changed. We no longer deal with the government. We only deal with consumer projects; that means serving you. We deal only in digital projects and we are looking at Nigeria and Africa. In the next couple of months, we would have covered Nigeria and then we can focus on West Africa.  We have avoided anything to do with the government apart from our regulators.”

On her part, Mrs Mayowa Olaniyan, group managing director, Chams HoldCo, whilst describing the firm’s half-year results as impressive and improved, said that the company plans to finish the financial year on a strong note with three-digit year-on-year growth from expanded business activities and emerging opportunities within the group.

Olaniyan revealed on the company’s outlook that Chams HoldCo aims to consolidate cost-optimisation measures within the group and cross-selling synergies to sustain its bottom-line performance.

Olaniyan said, “We are poised for innovation that will revolutionise the payment and technology industry with fast, secure and reliable platforms. We have plans to expand product lines through collaborations and partnerships.”