Contrary to the alarm raised by the Senate
over the alleged illegality and exorbitant
commission charged for the deployment of
Remita, an e-payment software, used for the
transfer of Federal Government’s funds from
financial institutions into a single treasury account
(TSA), PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report
that the use of the software is not only legal but
also represents a drastic cut of the commission
previously charged by banks for collection of
government reven
Also, findings reveal that the commission collected
by SystemSpecs, the owners/developers of Remita, is
nowhere near the N25 billion Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi
West) alleged to have been collected by the firm. It
was Mr. Melaye, who originally moved the motion on
the Senate floor for the payment to be investigated.
Last Wednesday, following Mr. Melaye’s motion, the
senate ordered its committee on finance and public
accounts to immediately commence an investigation
into use of Remita (which it erroneously described as
an e-collection agent) for remitting government
funds into the TSA; and its alleged collection of N25
billion commission being one per cent of the alleged
N2.5 trillion it remitted into the TSA.
Mr. Melaye had argued that the use of Remita was a
violation of Section 162(1) of the constitution, which
stated that “the federation shall maintain a special
account to be called the federation account into
which all revenues collected by the government of
the federation except the proceeds from the
personal income tax of the personnel of the Armed
Forces of the Federation, the Nigeria Police Force,
the ministry or department of government charged
with foreign affairs and the residents of the FCT,
Abuja.”
Mr. Melaye further stated that the Central Bank of
Nigeria, CBN, could only appoint a registered bank
as an agent for collecting and disbursing the funds.
He said that since Remita is not a bank, its
appointment as a collection agent is in violation of
the CBN Act and the Banks and Other Financial
Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2007.
According to him, Remita collected N25 billion “for
doing nothing.”
However, documents, including the service agreement
between SystemSpecs and CBN; correspondence
between the company and the office of the
Accountant General/ CBN as well as a letter to
President Muhammadu Buhari, seen by PREMIUM
TIMES show that not only was the commission
charged backed by law, it is shared by the company,
commercial banks and the CBN.
Though the commission is nowhere near the
exaggerated N25 billion touted by Mr. Melaye, the
one per cent charge also represent a drastic
reduction from between 2 per cent and 46 per cent
commission charged by commercial banks in some
instances for collecting government revenues.
In a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES, the
CBN Director for public communications, Ibrahim
Muazu, dismissed the amount quoted on the floor of
the senate as “completely misleading.”
“That is false. That is false,” he repeated for
emphasis.
“It is grossly exaggerated. We are talking of one per
cent. What is one per cent of the money? Have we
collected up to a trillion? That is a completely
misleading information. Even at the beginning of the
TSA the estimation of all the movement of federal
government funds into the account is N1.2 trillion,”
he added.
When asked to tell the total amount moved into the
TSA, Mr Muazu said: “I cannot give you the exact
amount now but I know it is far, far, far lower than
N2.5 trillion.”
THE AGREEMENT
According to the service agreement between the
parties, signed by Eunice Ikekhuah and Aderemi
Atanda of SystemSpecs on December 4, 2013, and
H.M Yusuf and R.A Olaniyan of the CBN on
December 11, 2013, Systemspecs, the CBN will deploy
Remita, a T24 banking application, for executing
payment instructions and collection of government
revenue.
Apart from the collection of revenue, Remita is also
used for payment of salaries, payment of taxes,
payment of pension, payroll processing biometric
verification, among other uses.
In a letter dated November 6, 2015, to Mr. Buhari,
SystemSpecs explained that “all commercial banks
and over 400 Micro Finance Banks in Nigeria” are
connected to the software. The company also
explained that 705 Ministries Departments and
Agencies (MDA) are currently using the software as
payment and collection platform.
So, contrary to Mr Melaye’s argument in the senate,
Remita is indeed a software that facilitates the
payment of government revenue from financial
institutions to a TSA in the CBN and not a revenue
collection agent.
Also, contrary to Mr. Melaye’s submission, the entire
1 per cent commission does not go to SystemSpecs,
the commission is shared between the CBN,
commercial banks, and the CBN.
“A tariff of 1% of the funds collected shall be
charged for the government revenue collections: i.
Platform Owner/SystemSpecs: 50%, ii. Collecting
Agents/DMBs (banks): 40%, iii. Introducer? CBN:
10%,” the agreement reads.
SystemSpecs further explained that at a seminar
organised by the CBN and the Office of the
Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF)
between May27-28, 2013, it actually proposed a
commission of 1.5 per cent, It explained that
commercial banks actually proposed 5 per cent, while
a committee set up by the CBN and the OAGF,
actually proposed 2.5 per cent. It explained that it
was the then Accountant-General of the Federation
that actually overruled all the suggested commission
and reduced it to 1 per cent.
However, the company said it was surprised to
receive a letter from CBN signed by Dipo Fatokun,
Director, Banking and Payments System Department,
on October 27, 2015 directing it to refund all
charges it collected from MDAs for implementation
of the TSA.
“I have been directed to inform you that you should
refund all charges (1% cost of collection) made into
the MDAs accounts as a result of the implementation
of the TSA,” the letter reads.
“The total amount should be credited into the
account mentioned below:
“FGN Revenue e-Collection Pool Account at the
Central Bank of Nigeria Account Number:
0020054161043
“Since the cost of the collection must have been
shared by all the stakeholders, you Are hereby
required to also provide a schedule of the total
amount collected and the portion that was shared to
each of the three participants. The schedule should
be prepared on month by month basis, from the
commencement of the TSA implementation in March
2015, to date. We will recover the share to the CBN
and the DMBs,” the letter explains.
SystemSpecs explained that after the kick off of
the TSA following a deadline announced by Mr
Buhari, it was invited for a meeting by OAGF where
they were told that following the enlarged scope of
the TSA, the government wanted to review the
charges.
“We wrote to the CBN to give a brief on the meeting
with OAGF and said inter-alia that, while on our
part, SystemSpecs is not averse to a review of the
existing transaction fee to a figure that is
agreeable to all parties, we would however, advise of
the need to carry along the DMBs as you will recall
that the current fees were agreed with the banks
and communicated by CBN via a circular in
December 2013,” the firm stated in a letter to the
CBN governor.
REDUCTION OF COST
In the same letter to the CBN Governor,
SystemSpecs further explained that the 1 per cent
charge actually represents a drastic reduction of
the amount the Federal Government had to pay for
the collection of its revenue before the
implementation of the TSA.
“Your Excellency will recall that one of the primary
focus of the TSA project is to retrieve funds from
the banks who were indirectly lending the
government money back to government at about
15%. Hidden cost to government? Arguably 15%.
“Remita provided a technology to empower
government retrieve her funds immediately
customers pay at Deposit Money Banks. No overnight
stay at any bank. Is 1% to be shared by all parties
really too high to pay for such a service?”
For instance, the firm explained, banks charge as
high as 46 per cent for National Open University
(NOUN) charges, nine per cent for Joint Admissions
and Matriculation Board (JAMB) fees, and six per
cent on Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC)
National Drivers’ License charges.
Thus in its letter to the President, SystemSpecs
appealed for the return of its fees and those earned
by the partner banks seized by the CBN.
Mr. Muazu corroborated SystemSpecs position during
the telephone chat with Premium Times
“The information you are given is in line with the
agreement dating back to 2011. That is a fact. They
started it actually when the TSA came up. The one
per cent was, yes, agreed at that time. But now with
the issue at hand everything needs to be reviewed
and agreed.
“But truly the banks, the CBN and themselves are
stakeholders. What is it that we are talking about?
It is the software or the platform. You can’t do
everything free for doing any business. The banks
that are doing the e-collection they pursue agencies
and other sources of revenue. Not just taking the
value. So it is actually an arrangement for the
service to be provided. That software that is being
used by the platform has to be maintained apart
from the initial design,” he said.
He said CBN asked SysytemSpecs to return the
commission already collected to enable it renegotiate
the terms of the contract.
“Now we are having a new arrangement. It’s not just
e-collection. Central bank is now in charge of
government revenue. So the old arrangement cannot
continue. So when the issue started the central bank
gave the order and the money were all paid back to
the government.
“Look at it this way, you have a product that you
are allowing someone to use, it can’t be free,” he
said.

source:www.saharareporters.com/2015/11/15/full-details-tsa-dino-melaye-misleads-nigerian-senate-n25-billion-claim

Dino melaye want to blackmail the fg... 1% is reasonable enough..

Until melaye and Ben Bruce fight to stop the FG from spending 25% of the budget on recurrent expenditure with the bulk going to wardrobe allowance, housing and salaries of senators,i won't take them serious..