CHAPTER
ONE

INTRODUCTION

Information technology (IT) plays a
critical role in many businesses and organization including safety and security
management. Safety and Security Management focuses on the safety and security
of people, organizations and public spaces. It meets a growing demand in the
labour market especially in the micro finance bank for professionals who can
formulate a clear view of safety and security requirements and keep a clear
head when providing them.

Security is the degree of resistance to, or
protection from, harm. It applies to any vulnerable and valuable asset, such as
a person, dwelling, community, nation, or organization.

As
noted by the Institute for Security and Open Methodologies (ISECOM) in the OSSTMM 3, security
provides “a form of protection where a separation is created between the
assets and the threat.” These separations are generically called
“controls,” and sometimes include changes to the asset or the threat.

Safety is the state of being
“safe” (from Frenchsauf), the condition
of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political,
emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or
consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be considered
non-desirable. Safety can also be defined to be the control of recognized
hazards to achieve an acceptable level of risk. This can take the form of being
protected from the event or from exposure to something that causes health or
economical losses. It can include protection of people or of possessions.

Discussions of safety often include
mention of related terms. Security is such a term. With time the definitions
between these two have often become interchanged, equated, and frequently
appear juxtaposed in the same sentence.

Safety is
the condition of a “steady state” of an organization or place doing what it is
supposed to do. “What it is supposed to do” is defined in terms of public codes
and standards, associated architectural and engineering designs, corporate
vision and mission statements, and operational plans and personnel policies.
For any organization, place, or function, large or small, safety is a normative
concept. It complies with situation-specific definitions of what is expected
and acceptable.

Safety can be limited in relation to some guarantee or a standard of insurance to the quality and unharmful function of an object or
organization. It is used in order to ensure that the object or organization
will do only what it is meant to do.

It is important to realize that safety is relative.
Eliminating all risk, if even possible, would be extremely difficult and very
expensive. A safe situation is one where risks of injury or property damage are
low and manageable.

In
recent time, the use of information and technology in micro finance bank for
safety and security has been on the high side due to the accelerated rate of
insecurity in the banking sector using micro finance bank as a case study. This
has helped to reduce robbing and attack in the bank. In most micro finance
bank, the use of information and technology gadgets like security door, CCTV cameral
has been used by the bank to checkmate both staff and customers of the bank to
avoid abnormality in the banking sector.

With
the help of information and technology in the micro finance bank, a
computerized and a secured database is normally use to secure the information
of both the bank and customers from malicious attack. This has help to enhance
the security and safety of the microfinance bank with the application of information
and communication technology.

Microfinance is a source of financial
services for entrepreneurs and small businesses lacking access to
banking and related services. The
two main mechanisms for the delivery of financial services to such clients are:
(1) relationship-based banking for individual entrepreneurs and small
businesses; and (2) group-based models, where several entrepreneurs come
together to apply for loans and other services as a group. In some regions, for
example most
microfinance banks are used to describe the supply of financial services to
low-income employees, which is closer to the retail finance model prevalent in
mainstream banking.

1.1   STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM

Microfinance institutions (MFIs)
operate in the same environment as the universal banks, but it is so obvious
that the safety and security management system of the bank was so poor due to
the lack of information and communication system. Before now, the microfinance
institution was managing their system without the use of information system
such as computer, internet (online), CCTV cameras etc, and this has made the
entire system in the institution to be slow, in secured and prone to free
access to information.

Below are some of the problems
associated with lack of information and communication technology for safety and
security management in the microfinance institution.

1.  Information
of customers were manually kept in a file

2.  Account
of customers were operated manually using ledgers

3.  Information
about customers were exposed because most of the files with which account were
created for loan processing were kept in the shelf and people can easily access
it.

4.  There
was misplacement of files

5.  It
was difficult to monitor the people entering the bank because of lack of
computerized door (Security door)

6.  Staff
were not being monitor from a designated or control room due to lack of CCTV
cameras

7.  There
was lack of internet access for customers in other for them to access their
account at the comfort of their home without 
coming to the bank

1.2   AIMS
AND OBJECTIVES

The
major aim of information and technology in the financial institution is to help
secure and enhance service delivering to customers by ensuring that
transactions is safe and secured. When this is done it will give room for more
customers to bank with them.

This
research work is aimed at the following

1.  To
provide secured account information system by using a computerized banking
operation as against the manual system

2.  Providing
a password system were by customers can access their account using an ATM terminal
with his or her password encrypted and not exposed to others.

3.  Providing
a monitoring system within and outside the banking all for transaction.

4.  To
provide a platform that can help to checkmate fraudulent transaction at any
given point in time

1.3   SCOPE

The scope of this research work is
limited to microfinance institution were by fun can easily be accessed and
transaction can be safe and secured with the application of information and
technology.

1.4     RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.  How information and technology does affect
the microfinance sector?

2.  Is the entire system of the financial
institution safe and secure with the application of information technology?

3.  Can information and technology bring a
lasting solution to the safety and security system of the institution?

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H₀: information and technology has no significant effect on the
micro finance sector.

H₁: information and technology has significant effect on the
micro finance sector.

1.5   DEFINITION
OF TERMS

Information: Data that is (1)
accurate and timely,
(2) specific and organized for a
purpose, (3) presented within a context that gives
it meaning and relevance, and (4) can lead to an
increase in understanding and decrease in uncertainty.

Safety:
Relative freedom from danger, risk, or threat of harm, injury, or loss to personnel and/or property, whether caused
deliberately or by accident. See also security.

Security: The
state of being free from danger or threat