meforyou1:
remita doesn't take 1%. The 1% fee is shared between remita and the collection banks

laudate:


Guy, please read the OP' post again. It clearly answers most of your questions. I have reproduced part of it again, below. NIBSS did not score highly in the technical evaluation.

laudate:


Guy, please understand how the system works. Who is this unnamed CBN Official that is spewing forth inanities? The payment platforms that CBN has used over the years, have been beset by various problems.

Let us start with RTGS which was installed by a foreign company. To use that platform, CBN surcharges every commercial bank a large sum annually, to cover the cost of the backhaul and other equipments used to keep that platform, operational. Yet, it is very slow and breaks down frequently, and you have to call their offices every few hours each time it starts to drag. Each time this happens, the banks start to panic and call the CBN offices repeatedly, because there is a penalty for late submission of returns. There are even limitations as to what you can do on that platform. It is not even available to banks' branches in some local govt areas.

Don't forget that it was because of the inadequacy of their existing platforms, that CBN undertook the search for a new platform that was far more effective. A number of companies bidded for it, and after due diligence and checks, CBN chose Remitta. Even NIBSS the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System which is jointly owned by the existing commercial banks and CBN, could not offer the service at the agreed fee. It did not score highly also in the technical evaluation of its existing platform.

In fact, let me stop here.... I have even given away too many secrets.

meforyou1:
you don't know what you are saying. Which CBN RTGS breaks down frequently? And mind you, RTGS is not for used for submission of returns by banks. It is eFASS that is used for that. RTGS is used for funds transfer. Inter bank and third party funds transfer.
It's people like you that feed people like Dino Melaye the lies he raises in the floor of the senate

laudate:


Guy, RTGS breaks down. Even when it is working, its' speed is slow, and it drags. If you have ever used it consistently over time on a regular basis, you would know. Ask anyone who has worked in the IT Dept as well as ops dept of any commercial bank.

It is folks like you that feed Dino Melaye with crap, because I do not even know the clown called Dino. Both CBN and the World Bank Project team evaluated the technical capability of RTGS and the technical solutions provided by other companies, before settling for Remitta. In fact, CBN in its own letter stated clearly that RTGS was unsuitable! Go and do your research before coming back here!

meforyou1:
boy, I challenge you and IT staff of any commercial bank to prove that RTGS is slow and breaks down. I don't have time to lecture you

edogirl2:
People can say what they like about the existence of a contract bla bla. But that does not change the fact that a new government is entitled to look at what is quite clearly a scam contract.

Op's attempt to conflate personal credit card charges in the US with the TSA charges is nonsense. If the government put out a bid for 0.1% of total collection as charges, many companies, including from abraod will happily bid for the contract, because even at 0.1% fee, it is still a very good contract for doing little.


You supply a one - off software that requires nothing more than a handful of people to keep it going and you want to take 1% of the country's entire domestic earnings. The remaining 170 million people will have to contend with 'just' 99%. The contract is just another example of the wickedness of the PDP/Jonathan administration.


Op can say whatever he likes, but this contract is going down. APC will will review the contract and deal with it accordingly.

laudate:


Don't bother to lecture anybody, as none of the actual users of that platform would attend.

RTGS is used for net settlement requests. And the CBN Guideline is explicit on use of RTGS. "For low value net settlement systems, if a participant does not have sufficient funds to settle net position, this could prove a risk to the whole system, CBN would provide collateralized intraday credit facility, which would be accessed to enable participants to make payments. The collateral must be high quality and the amount would be determined by CBN. Any participant that enjoys this facility must make the fund available in its account to cover the credit not later than the close of the day's business."

If that participating bank does not make funds available to cover the credit, or if it delays in submitting its returns on that settlement credit to CBN by close of day, it is penalised.

meforyou1:
don't mind people just talking out of ignorance.
Government collections are collected by banks and then transmitted to CBN through Remita software, developed by SystemSpec, a Nigerian company. In fact, both payment and collection.
The agreement is that 1% of the collection will be deducted and that 1% collected shared by SystemSpec and the collection banks, though I don't know in what percentage.
Every labourer deserves his wages. Nothing comes for free

edogirl2:
People can say what they like about the existence of a contract bla bla. But that does not change the fact that a new government is entitled to look at what is quite clearly a scam contract.

Op's attempt to conflate personal credit card charges in the US with the TSA charges is nonsense. If the government put out a bid for 0.1% of total collection as charges, many companies, including from abraod will happily bid for the contract, because even at 0.1% fee, it is still a very good contract for doing little.

You supply a one - off software that requires nothing more than a handful of people to keep it going and you want to take 1% of the country's entire domestic earnings. The remaining 170 million people will have to contend with 'just' 99%. The contract is just another example of the wickedness of the PDP/Jonathan administration.

Op can say whatever he likes, but this contract is going down. APC will will review the contract and deal with it accordingly.

laudate:


And what exactly makes it a scam?? CBN itself knew that its existing systems were inadequate to cope with the activities it wanted to carry out. It invited bids from various companies to implement a new processing platform. The technical evaluation was jointly carried out by World Bank Project team and CBN, before Remitta was eventually selected.

CBN did not contribute a kobo to the setting up of that platform. The company did it at its own cost. The only thing it was entitled to collect was its processing fee of 1% of the cost of the transaction, and that 1% would be shared between that firm and all the commercial banks, which means at the end of the day, it gets only 0.05%.

Part of that fee is for sustaining and maintaining the operations of the platform. So what is so difficult for you to understand in here??

And is it your own lack of understanding that has made you conclude that it is a scam?? Educate yourself, please!! There is no payment processing platform in the world that does not charge a fee for its transactions.

meforyou1:
me and you agree on remita. Educate yourself more on RTGS.

meforyou1:
you didn't add that RTGS is for high value interbank and third party payments.Which makes it unsuitable for retail payments which is what those collections are. And why the CBN people went for remita.

laudate:


CBN did not contribute a kobo to the setting up of that platform. The company did it at its own cost. The only thing it was entitled to collect was its processing fee of 1% of the cost of the transaction, and that 1% would be shared between that firm and all the commercial banks, which means at the end of the day, it gets only 0.05%.

Part of that fee is for sustaining and maintaining the operations of the platform. So what is so difficult for you to understand in here??

And is it your own lack of understanding that has made you conclude that it is a scam?? Educate yourself, please!! There is no payment processing platform in the world that does not charge a fee for its transactions.

edogirl2:
If it wasn't a scm, why did the CBN confirm today that Remita or its owner company has refunded N8 billion naira. They forgot it in their back pocket before abi?

Abeg so siddon.

edogirl2:
People can say what they like about the existence of a contract bla bla. But that does not change the fact that a new government is entitled to look at what is quite clearly a scam contract. My Response>>>>> It is not a 'scam' contract, ma'am. CBN, OAGF and the World Bank were involved in SystemSpecs' certification of capabilities and the subsequent negotiated charges. If this is not legal, then nothing else is.




Op's attempt to conflate personal credit card charges in the US with the TSA charges is nonsense. If the government put out a bid for 0.1% of total collection as charges, many companies, including from abraod will happily bid for the contract, because even at 0.1% fee, it is still a very good contract for doing little. My Response>>>>>>>>> Industry standards for collections are 1.5-2.5% but the company accepted a 1% derivative which again is still shared with CBN itself and all commercial banks. CBN got an amazing collection platform very, very cheap. That the company's earnings were driven up by FGN enforcement of the TSA is not the company's fault.





You supply a one - off software that requires nothing more than a handful of people to keep it going and you want to take 1% of the country's entire domestic earnings. The remaining 170 million people will have to contend with 'just' 99%. The contract is just another example of the wickedness of the PDP/Jonathan administration. My Response>>>>>>>>> Ma'am, the platform does more than just funnel funds to the TSA. It provides detailed reports for remmittances per MDA, It offers various collection channels so that it is ridiculously easy for MDAs to remit... we are talking Mastercard, VISA, VERVE, POS, Internet banking, Quickteller and Bank Branches. The only platform you cannot pay via on the platform is the ATM for now. It also provides a realtime, multi-bank account balance enquiry module that is online. In short, if Buhari wants to know how much has been remitted at any point in time, he does not need to call the Finance Minister. All he has got to do is pick up his tab/mobile phone/laptop, login and hit a couple of buttons. These, i assure you, require more than 'a handful of people' to maintain and support.


Op can say whatever he likes, but this contract is going down. APC will will review the contract and deal with it accordingly.

laudate:


You really need to educate yourself. Refunding a fee is NOT equivalent to admission that there is a scam.

mindthing:
My Response>>>>>>>> Again, not so. There is no other platform offers the combination of features i have listed above ALL ON ONE PLATFORM. Whether people like you like it or not, this country WILL move forward in integrity and technology. You might want to do some research on Remita and SystemSpecs before placing your money on a bet for this prediction you have made.

edogirl2:
Does what you write up there make sense...even to you?

Money is missing in your house. You call everyone present and threaten to call the police.
Your houseboy goes on his knees saying '...Oga, please dont call Police, I will refund it'

According to you, that is not an admission of guilty.

Some of you people are so corrupt, you have buried your morality.

edogirl2:


The funny thing is, the company simply dips its hands in our collective commonwealyth and pays itself what it likes, then passes the rest to the CBN. Then when they are cuaght, they rush to return some of the money.


Never seen a country like this before.


Shouldn't Remita pass ALL REVENUES to the owner of the money, and then the owner (Ministry of Finance or CBN) pays for their service? How can it be that Remita pays itself from the money it collects

edogirl2:
Contract will be reviewed and if necessary put back out for public bid.

There is no justification for paying 1% of the nation's commonwealth under a scam contract.

Once the investigations are carried, and if the contract if put out for a bid under new and fair terms, if Remita likes it can bid, otherwise it can zap off. It wont be missed.

Enough of stealing is not corruption.

End off.

mindthing:
Remember the 1% income derived is being shared with SystemSpecs by CBN and the banks. It is cheaper and more efficient for all parties to get their share of the income at source. It makes for less transactional charges and fewer accounting entries to split immediately. This was also part of the contractual agreement that had World bank oversight. Besides, there are detailed reports provided by the platform showing exactly how the money is moving. It is why the initial 25bn allegation was quashed very quickly and CBN knew what to expect back, countering Dino Melaye's wild and un-founded assertions.

SystemSpecs wasnt 'caught' and didnt 'rush' to return money. When President Buhari was told about the contractual terms (way before Dino Melaye came out ranting), he ordered the earnings from everyone (not just SystemSpecs) returned and charges suspended for now till re-negotiations are concluded... So FGN has been using Remita to channel revenue to the TSA for weeks now at no charge.

If this is not integrity, i dont know what it is.

westreign:
I fear for this Dino Guy, I hope he doesn't get the Farouk Lawan treatment soon. That is by the way. TSA shouldn't be a drain pipe for some privilege few. Let CBN own the process not one firm that can't even employ it's citizens.

laudate:


Was there anything in the contract signed between the company and CBN, that forbids the firm from deducting the 1% transaction fee at source??

I wish you could publish this your silly comment in a newspaper or magazine, so that the company could sue you for libel. (i.e. defamation of name and character in a written form). They would make millions without having to lift a finger!



Thank you for educating the clueless!! Let us hope it sinks into their brains! At the time CBN started using Remitta in January 2012, no one knew that this APC Govt would come in later to order that the entire TSA accounts from all tiers of govt, MDGs, parastatals etc., would be transferred to CBN. The volume of those transactions alone, is what made the 1% fee appear so huge.

edogirl2:


The funny thing is, the company simply dips its hands in our collective commonwealyth and pays itself what it likes, then passes the rest to the CBN. Then when they are cuaght, they rush to return some of the money.


Never seen a country like this before.


Shouldn't Remita pass ALL REVENUES to the owner of the money, and then the owner (Ministry of Finance or CBN) pays for their service? How can it be that Remita pays itself from the money it collects

mickey45:

The so-called 1% as has been mentioned by someone earlier isn't just for the system specs people but for all "clearing houses" involved (they get to have only .005% even though that's not thousands either).
In all, the banks still make their money, just that they don't have access to it for lending.

mickey45:
And like I said earlier, a contract is a contract. Reviews are possible, but unless a case of wrongdoing can be legally ( and not newspaperly) established, you don't just arbitrarily order a refund.
If they have complied, it might mean either or both of a tacit admission on their part or they just don't want to lose the contract considering the loss it would translate into for them which is pure coercion.

Finally, you saying "this contract is going Down!!!", I hope it's not the El-rufai kind whose "whistleblowings" about NNPc has been rumored to be because he was "denied a piece of the pie"

laudate:

True!! The 1% transaction fee is meant to be shared between the company and all the existing 26 commercial banks.



How is their compliance a tacit admission?? An 'admission' of just what, exactly?? The refund was a presidential order given by Buhari, because he wanted all funds pertaining to the TSA Accounts (including fees), to be placed exclusively in Central Bank. There was no evidence of wrong doing on the part of the company, or on the part of CBN or the commercial banks in this case.

The company bidded for the job to install a payments and collections platform for CBN. Out of all the firms that bidded, this company was selected by World Bank Project Team and CBN as well as the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, after a full technical evaluation and commercial review had been conducted.

Did you even read through all the comments made on this entire thread before rushing in to make this specific comment??

mickey45:
Actually not! I was only stating the grounds on which her taking their refunding money to mean culpability might be possible.Apparently my thinking, the refund might just be "damage control" may not fly either.

If I get you, it means prior to the former arrangement where the firm takes it's share before remittance (NNPC style), the FG itself pays them? Is it?

doctokwus:

Possible. With the new arrangement in town, avenues of siphoning funds by senators, like bogus constituency allowances and getting contracts from ministers are reduced to the barest minimum if not entirely eliminated.The likes of Dino cud have tried blackmailing the owner of the company, to play ball or he exposes "the fraud".Of course with the polluted political climate, its always easy to get one or two news media who don't bother to investigate and do not have basic journalism ethics,to air one's polluted views, as long as u drop some brown envelope and it serves their own political interests.