The motion sponsor said despite the benefits and reasons for on-boarding the Remita Platform, the rate of revenue leakages is high.
The House of Representatives has mandated its Committee on Public Accounts to investigate revenue leakages through the Remita platform.
It also expressed displeasure over the non-compliance by revenue-generating agencies of government of standard operating procedures and other allied service level agreements signed among deposit money banks, office of the AGF, Systemspec, Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for further legislative action.
The directive is contained in a motion on “Call to Investigate Revenue Leakages and Non–remittance of Revenues Generated through the Remita Platform” co-sponsored by Rep Jeremiah Umaru (APC, Nassarawa) and Rep. Jafaru Gambo (APC, Bauchi).
Leading the debate on the motion, Rep. Umaru opined that Nigeria is not experiencing issues with expenditure but rather with revenue issues.
He also noted that “Remita is a software cum financial service platform owned by System-Specs which is a Private Company in charge of managing Government Revenues, it has served as a gateway for the Treasury Single Account (TSA) of the Federal government since 2012 though fully adopted in 2015 and used in the collection of Government Revenues over the years.”
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According to him, “Over 8.7 trillion naira has been processed through the platform before the deployment of the software as the Nigerian government had over 15,000 Bank Accounts operated by Ministries, Departments, and agencies (MDAs). He added that the proliferation of accounts has moved from deposit money banks to the Central Bank of Nigeria allowing MDAs to create multiple sub-accounts thereby negating the TSA Policy of the Federal Government.”
The lawmaker further explained that “the TSA system has created a cashless economy, transparency and effective tracking of cash assets with attendant accountability. It has not fully blocked leakages and abuses by the proliferation of CBN Sub-Accounts.”
Again, the lawmaker disclosed that 1% of the funds collected is charged as commission for making use of the platform and shared among SystemSpecs (owner), Deposit Money Banks(processor), and Central Bank of Nigeria (License issuer) in the ratio of 50:40:10 respectively. “This is alarming and unacceptable.”
He continued “Despite the benefits and reasons for on-boarding the Remita Platform, the rate of revenue leakages is worrisome apart from non-compliance substantively with Standard Operating Procedures and other allied Service Level Agreements signed by parties.”
Rep Umaru equally warned that if the scenario continues unabated, the government will continue to experience a revenue shortfall and this will prevent the government from meeting the rising demand for good governance and infrastructural development from citizens;
