By Mary Onyia
Fintech firm, OPay, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Calabar for its cybersecurity lab project.
The MoU was signed at the OPay CSR Empower in Futures 2025 event held in Lagos over the weekend.
The event also marked the celebration of the 420 beneficiaries of OPay’s N1.2billion ten-year scholarships for Nigerian university students.
Cyber lab support is part of the company’s education CSR initiative.
Speaking on the new initiative, the Executive Director of the OPay Nigeria Board, Elizabeth Wang, explained that the company’s vision goes beyond financial technology, focusing on creating social value and investing in the nation’s future.
“At OPay, our vision is to become the most respected and popular financial technology company that actually creates social value.
“That’s why last year we announced our CSR. From the very beginning, we thought about what direction we wanted to take and where we wanted to focus this year and in the following years.
“The answer is simple. We believe in the future. And who is the future? The student is the future. Education is the future”, he said.
Wang, who is also the Chief Commercial Officer of OPay, disclosed that during the visit to the University of Calabar, the Vice-Chancellor requested support for the creation of a cyber lab.
“When we went to the University of Calabar, the VC reached out to say, ‘Can you support me for the cyber lab?
“For OPay, our mission is to make financial services more inclusive through technology. We are the ones leveraging technologies to reshape and reform financial services in Nigeria.
“We said okay, then we asked, do we have the capability to do more? Not just support for the equipment or renovation of the building, but we can cascade our knowledge and our technologies to the students so that they can have a better understanding of these technologies.
“And then, when they graduate, they can also contribute more with their talents and techniques to bring better technology to society”, Wang said.
She added that OPay would also be sending a team of experts to the cyber lab for an annual knowledge-sharing session.
“What is more is that we will send our team at least once a year to give a lecture to students to let them know about the latest technologies, what is the latest for security, cyber and all the new things, so that the students will be equipped with the latest information and technology”, she announced.
She also revealed that OPay had signed a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding with several universities and expressed gratitude to the institutions and students who had welcomed the initiative.
“We will let you know that OPay will announce the 10-year N1.2billion scholarship. We are serious, we are passionate, and we really want to deliver our commitment to society.
“In the past year’s journey, all our team flew to all the schools to sign the MoUs. We reached out to the students and worked together with professionals, managers and deans from the schools.
“We selected the students who are good and really need help, and we already disbursed the money to them so that they can really benefit from it”.
According to Wang, OPay has already disbursed N126million in the first year of the scholarships, supporting 420 students across 20 universities in the first year of the initiative.
The CSR Manager, OPay, Itoro Udo, also highlighted the company’s dedication to long-term social investment, noting that initiatives like the scholarship and cyber lab projects reflect OPay’s belief in technology as a bridge to opportunity and empowerment.