The parent company of Remita, the e-payment and e-collection software deployed by the federal government to drive implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), System Specs, has described recent allegations of wrongdoing against it as a ploy to frustrate the scheme.
The Senate had on Tuesday mandated its Committees on Finance, Banking and Financial Institutions to “carry out holistic investigation” of the TSA over an allegation by Senator Dino Melaye (APC/Kogi West) that Remita got N25 billion, which translates to one per cent of the sum of N2.5 trillion mopped up from loose government accounts on September 15.
But the company in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, explained its involvement in the exercise and requested an urgent resolution of issues surrounding the processing fees.
In its letter to President Buhari, the company urged him to take measures that would ensure that the federal government does not play into the hands of some forces determined to frustrate the TSA initiative.
The letter dated November 6, 2015 and signed by the Managing Director of System Specs, Mr. John Obaro, reads in part: “Your Excellency, we are aware that you must have heard series of reports around the 1% processing fees chargeable on e-Collections of Government receipts. We will like to provide some background on these issues sir.
“System Specs was engaged to provide the Payment Gateway for TSA in 2011. While the payment leg of TSA commenced in January 2012, the collection component did not start as scheduled due to the resistance from a number of quarters and the absence of the political will to push this through.
“In 2013, CBN and OAGF setup ·a multi-stakeholder implementation committee and organised a joint seminar with key stakeholders, including banks, to agree formalities for commencement of e-collection.
“The Banks proposed a fee of 5% to compensate for the fact that they would no longer keep float.
“The implementation committee however recommended 2.5% after negotiation with the banks.
“The then AGF later approved 1% as processing fee, which was in turn communicated to all the stakeholders through CBN in December 2013. Subsequently, we executed a contract with CBN and other stakeholders involved on the provision of services to support TSA.
“Based on the increased scope of the TSA project, following your directive in August 2015 for all MDAs to join the scheme, we had highlighted the need for a stakeholder meeting to discuss the TSA e-collection fees. This was communicated to both CBN and OAGF.
“Instead of an invitation for a stakeholders meeting as requested, we received a directive from the CBN Governor to refund all TSA e-collection fees earned to date and to suspend all charges on the platform.
“System Specs has since complied fully with this directive and refunded all monies earned to date to CBN. This we did in good faith and without prejudice to avoid distractions that could becloud the bigger potential of the TSA project for our country.
“While we await clarification from OAGF/CBN on the way forward, we have since suspended all TSA e collection fees on the platform. This means that none of the TSA collection parties/channels are earning any fees for providing services to Government.
“This position is however not sustainable as the collection partner banks are threatening to suspend FGN TSA collections. This would clearly be playing into the hands of those who do not wish this initiative to succeed.
“We understand the strategic importance of the TSA project to this administration and the country at large. We have demonstrated good faith and continued commitment to the project in the last four years to deliver on our mandate.
“We will continue to do all within our power to bring the project to full term.
“Your Excellency, we would appreciate your kind and urgent intervention to ensure a speedy resolution of this matter before the banks stop collections”.
