smuth:


[size=14pt]When will our government have sense sef? Instead of paying that huge amount of money as commission to one of their 'business venture' of stealing our money...why can't this daft government just hire top developers in the world to build the gaddem software for far less than 20billion naira and save our tax money. So sad this is just one of the various ways our governments (including Buhari) thief our money...'change' my foot *spites...mtcheeew. I swear that Remita Software no go cost pass 5k for computer village.[/size]

Nonsense.

So if Government need a service Interswitch or Etranzact already provide, they should hire top developers in the world.

Thank God you not a special adviser, na your type dey give GEJ nonsense advise.

Gbawe:
I guess we can accept this as the FG official and unambiguous announcement on the TSA. It is clear no single business interest has made N25 billion per transaction as claimed by Melaye. Buhari will have to very careful with Melaye, Saraki et al because it is clear these guys are 'spoilers' eager to frustrate tha fight against corruption and the effort to enshrine transparency in the operations of government.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/11/17/president-goodluck-jonathan-regime-signed-tsa-agreement-1-fee-minister

For God's sake Dino is a Senator of the federal Republic, an indepedent arm of government that is armed with checkmating the excesses of the Executive arm. If as a Senetor he over-looks a seemingly suspected fraud against the treasury of the Nation in the name of fellow party member, then the survival of this country will be in danger. Dino is not fighting President Buhari, rather he is fighting corruption. He raised the alarm to notify the populace he is representing of the illegal transaction going on. If not because of Dino alarm, System Specs wouldn't have returned the #8.6 Billion they deducted. We are in a democratic system for crying out loud; everything about the government must be transparent, and not shrewded in secrecy.

cymidas:
Govt of propaganda, everything bad is good luck and everything good is Buhari, why didn't the president review the policy before implementation like he as always reviewed every thing the last govt did.

PMB could not have reviewed a contract that was signed, sealed and delivered as it was in this case. What he could have done was to wait for the expiration of time, if the contract had a tenor.

9jagoodman:


APC is still opposition party..... that is what they know how to do. It will take time before they understand what government is all about. I hope they realize that quick.

Sorry bro... PDP is the party which hasnt still come to terms with its new official position; hence the uncoordinated wailings and ramblings.

DeLaRue:


No, the Minister's statement does not resolve the issue. It seems your priority is to clear the air on whether Buhari's government was at fault or not. That is not the issue that concerns most people. The issue is that this contract has all the signs of a shady PDP contraption schemed to funnel 1% of the contry's entire internally generated commonwealth into the hands of a handful of people. For this reason alone, I am in full support of the Senate investigating this contract.

The Presidency or Ministry of Finance must initiate its own investigation into the motive of the people in the previou.s administration who agreed to this fee. Afterall, the government is revisiting a number of other shady deals signed by the previous government

otil1:


I also thank for the clarification.... but my own question is, why would the current administration go forward with such a defective agreement, if you now want to blame it on previous administration. Did you not study it before pushing to go ahead with it?

Why should it be someone in far away legislative arm pointing out such an important matter to the leaders of the nation in the executive arm?

Even if one per cent was agreed as charges, whatever accrues therefrom was meant to be shared among the CBN, Systemspecs (the owner of the Remita software) and the commercial banks, hence no single company could have collected 25 billion Naira as charges

No single company is pocketing 1%.

1% of N1tr = N10b

10b divided by 3 = N3.33bn


That is about $15million for a software company is a very fair deal if you know the amount software companies around the world charge.


There is absolutely nothing wrong with the deal.

We shouldn't let our hatred for a particular party or person blind us to the truth that Saraki and his cohorts are real enemy of Nigerian citizens.

smuth:
[size=14pt]I swear that Remita Software no go cost pass 5k for computer village.[/size]

ignorance at its peak.

You must have thought it is a pirated software ..

BCISLTD:
thanks for the clarification. ..but my question is why are the software owners entitled to part of the 1%...shouldn't they just be paid royalty and small maintanace fee?

Same thing goes for interswitch and the rest of other companies that benefit from every withdrawal you make from your ATM. so it depends on how you negotiate.

jomoh:








No single company is pocketing 1%.

1% of N1tr = N10b

10b divided by 3 = N3.33bn


That is about $15million for a software company is a very fair deal if you know the amount software companies around the world charge.


There is absolutely nothing wrong with the deal.

We shouldn't let our hatred for a particular party or person blind us to the truth that Saraki and his cohorts are real enemy of Nigerian citizens.

Thank you. How many times must it be repeated that the 1% fee is shared by SystemSpecs (0.5%), the commercial banks (0.4%) and our CBN (0.1%)? Why, in the first place, did Melaye , a cohort of the embattled Saraki, claim that one company is making N25 billion daily when this is entirely fictitious?

SystemSpecs, the owner company of Remita, the e-payment and e-collection software deployed by the Federal Government to drive the Treasury Single Account (TSA), has said only N7.62 billion was taken as fees by the three implementers of the project as against N25 billion claimed by its accusers.

teepain:


Modath nice suggestion there. However find some of my thoughts below:

(1)it might be difficult to renegotiate a contract that is already in force except there is a clause that allows that in the original contract. For instance if the contract had tenor it might be renegotiated at the expiration of the period

Seems i wasn't explicit enough, so let me try & explain myself, ok?... It doesn't take a lawyer to know that contracts are sacrosanct, with terms & conditions & clauses to protect both parties are always inserted ...

I totally get your point, in saner climes, government is in continuum & all agreements reached by a previous administration is binding on the succeeding one. .. Not in the case Nigeria where our politics is one of hate & one upmanship. ....


The thing is that politics & economics are sort of joined at the hip, if the politics ain't right the economy is going to be off key...


There is no problem with the contract in my own book, it is the uproar the government should have anticipated & put the terms the previous govt agreed to in the public domain...


All these drama would have been avoided.... The opposition is deliberately misinforming the people & there is an urgent need to correct that..

That Dino & Saraki, i don't know how or when, but they will surely get served... Disgruntled & greedy mofos they both are....

otil1:


I also thank for the clarification.... but my own question is, why would the current administration go forward with such a defective agreement, if you now want to blame it on previous administration. Did you not study it before pushing to go ahead with it?

Why should it be someone in far away legislative arm pointing out such an important matter to the leaders of the nation in the executive arm?

i think the fg was aware, weither u study it or not, the fg has no power to sack a contract deal that has been signed for a given numba of yrs and move to another company, highest is to negotiate how it want to withdrawl frm that company and pay compensation which the company must agree to, and i dont expect them to. Fg saw it needed the initiative and a deal was set already. Only the senate can renegoitate or call off that deal without the company permission

coming from lie sorry lai mohammed sha

MizMyColi:
You just gotta love the hypocrisy and double standards of these folks.

One question please.

While they were busy celebrating the TSA as Buhari's sole achievement, why did they sweep the 1% agreement under the carpet?
Why didn't they make this known at the time?
Why are they coming out with all these information now that the milk has been spilt?Agreed, the 1 percent rate is exorbitant.
Okonjo and co might have gaffed on that.

But let's remember that they never quite brought the project to fruition, perhaps if they did and saw the amount being raked in, they would have called for a downward review.

Under PMB, 2.5 trillion has been remitted...
In the spirit of transparency and prudency, he owed Nigerians the duty to call for an immediate downward review seeing as they (REMITA) were getting a rather exorbitant fee.

He didn't have to wait for Saraki and Melaye to blow the whistle (I suspect they both have interests).

But what do I know...

Blame Buhari for the right.
Employ every means possible to heap all the wrongs on GEJ.

You are wrong not up to that amount has been remitted thus far and the government as started moves to review the charges already

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 revenues.

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

liars everywhere...

lordofjustice:
Yes, the previous administration signed the agreement and that administration is implicated in this case but this present government that implemented the TSA without review equally has questions to answer.

GEJ tenure employed some people in DSS which was later disregarded by this same administration. There have been probes upon probes , reviews upon reviews on some actions and inactions of past administration including the current Col Dasuki arm purchase; so the question is: What stopped PMB to review this TSA as he has been probing and reviewing others before going ahead to implement. PMB administration is implicated too.

If it's a fair deal why waste time to implement. the company to be paid royalty, other financial institutions to be paid out of the 1% for auditing so as to be sure the actual monies are been remitted.

modath:




There is no problem with the contract in my own book, it is the uproar the government should have anticipated & put the terms the previous govt agreed to in the public domain...


All these drama would have been avoided.... The opposition is deliberately misinforming the people & there is an urgent need to correct that..

That Dino & Saraki, i don't know how or when, but they will surely get served... Disgruntled & greedy mofos they both are....

This is true. Some naivete on the path of the APC yet I feel the Party and Buhari will learn as long as Saraki, Melaye et al continue to show their hand too early and in time for the government to make amends and still retain the trust and support of Nigerians. The eagerness was to make TSA active asap so that the wholesale misappropriation of the past stopped. Yet the Government needs to start anticipating potential avenues of mischief from corrupt elements.

dammytosh:


List them.

List agreements signed and in place as far as 2011 that Buhari cancelled.

Pity yourself rather for just assuming without any basis.

All $38bn direct investments with China for starts.

In 2014 we hosted the World Economic Forum where China signed a $38bn direct investment package with Nigeria.

You won't know this as you where busy being distracted by that mad woman Oby over the chibok scam.

Fast foward to September, 2015 and Kenya hosts the Chinese -African trade summit where CHINA has since redirected much of that earlier signed $38bn to Kenya making Kenya the largest investment destination for China.

Nigeria wasn't even invited.

And Buhari initiated TSA.... mtcheeeew, ignoramus

jorlons:
I didn't need lai's response to see the truth. The mischievous intent of the opposition is to vilify this admin. That's the only way. I don't blame them, they lack ingenious strategies in playing opposition politics. Here's their only strategy, "APC govt must be hated if we must return to Power". It's sad that most Nigerians have been blinded by the activities of partisan politics that they no longer realize the ultimate goal here (A better Nigeria for Nigerians)

when PDP starts offering a clear opposition with good intentions for Nigeria and Nigerians, I'll know.

God bless.

AdviserGeneral:



For God's sake Dino is a Senator of the federal Republic, an indepedent arm of government that is armed with checkmating the excesses of the Executive arm. If as a Senetor he over-looks a seemingly suspected fraud against the treasury of the Nation in the name of fellow party member, then the survival of this country will be in danger. Dino is not fighting President Buhari, rather he is fighting corruption. He raised the alarm to notify the populace he is representing of the illegal transaction going on. If not because of Dino alarm, System Specs wouldn't have returned the #8.6 Billion they deducted. We are in a democratic system for crying out loud; everything about the government must be transparent, and not shrewded in secrecy.

At the bolded, what is illegal in a contract that was won through a competitive bidding process and payment made on the basis of that contractual agreement? Was it that the service was not rendered and payment was made to the vendor or that the vendor deducted beyond the 1% agreed?

For God's sake Dino is a Senator of the federal Republic, an indepedent arm of government that is armed with checkmating the excesses of the Executive arm. If as a Senetor he over-looks a seemingly suspected fraud against the treasury of the Nation in the name of fellow party member, then the survival of this country will be in danger. Dino is not fighting President Buhari, rather he is fighting corruption. He raised the alarm to notify the populace he is representing of the illegal transaction going on. If not because of Dino alarm, System Specs wouldn't have returned the #8.6 Billion they deducted. We are in a democratic system for crying out loud; everything about the government must be transparent, and not shrewded in secrecy.

I would not blame Dino Melaye or any other person for raising questions over this issue. However, the unfounded allegations that he made while at it suggests a not so noble objective. For a Senator who has access to information more than an average citizen to publicly state that "a Company stole $25 billion in a single day for doing nothing was alarming". At least, if senate had queries they could have invited CBN,System Specs and other parties for clarification and at the end of the day, they can make available their findings to the public instead of making mockery of themselves

dammytosh:


Nonsense.

So if Government need a service Interswitch or Etranzact already provide, they should hire top developers in the world.

Thank God you not a special adviser, na your type dey give GEJ nonsense advise.

[size=14pt]You are too daft to know the Remita Software was built by developers abroad. What stops this government from doing same instead of allocating that huge amount as commission on every transaction on a Software they can purchase...na why I dey even waste my time to reply person wey no get sense.[/size]

Gbawe:
Combining the article above with that below, I think we do not need a rocket scientist to show us what Melaye, Saraki et al are up to.


http://saharareporters.com/2015/11/16/how-saraki-national-assembly-leaders-secretly-opposed-treasury-single-account

These are mere beer parlour hear-say. SR is a major antagonist to Senator Saraki. I thought SR is a known whistle blower; why are they protecting the government and singing praises to this administration? Compromised journalist, they will soon resort to junk just to remain relevant.

BCISLTD:
thanks for the clarification. ..but my question is why are the software owners entitled to part of the 1%...shouldn't they just be paid royalty and small maintanace fee?

Who is this? Where do you attend primary school now?

smuth:


[size=14pt]You are too daft to know the [b]Remita Software was built by developers abroad. What stops this government from doing same instead of allocating that huge amount as commission on every transaction on a Software they can purchase...na why I dey even waste my time to reply person wey no get sense.[/b] [/size]

Typing in bold does not hide your ignorance.


You know nothing about what you are saying.

Remita was built abroad ? Really ? --- M0r0n or liar ? what are you ?

I will leave you with this quote below :

"He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a f00l"
Anonymous.

jorlons:
I didn't need lai's response to see the truth. The mischievous intent of the opposition is to vilify this admin. That's the only way. I don't blame them, they lack ingenious strategies in playing opposition politics. Here's their only strategy, "APC govt must be hated if we must return to Power". It's sad that most Nigerians have been blinded by the activities of partisan politics that they no longer realize the ultimate goal here (A better Nigeria for Nigerians)

when PDP starts offering a clear opposition with good intentions for Nigeria and Nigerians, I'll know.

My brother if you read well, you'll notice that the APC is fighting itself. Leave opposition out of this.

sandraokosun1:
i think the fg was aware, weither u study it or not, the fg has no power to sack a contract deal that has been signed for a given numba of yrs and move to another company, highest is to negotiate how it want to withdrawl frm that company and pay compensation which the company must agree to, and i dont expect them to. Fg saw it needed the initiative and a deal was set already. Only the senate can renegoitate or call off that deal without the company permission

APC lied on this one again and you believed again...read this https://www.nairaland.com/2745779/busted-buharis-accountant-general-signed

teepain:


At the bolded, what is illegal in a contract that was won through a competitive bidding process and payment made on the basis of that contractual agreement? Was it that the service was not rendered and payment was made to the vendor or that the vendor deducted beyond the 1% agreed?




I would not blame Dino Melaye or any other person for raising questions over this issue. However, the unfounded allegations that he made while at it suggests a not so noble objective. For a Senator who has access to information more than an average citizen to public state that "a Company stole $25 billion in a single day for doing nothing was alarming". At least, if CBN had queries they could have invited CBN,System Specs and other parties for clarification and at the end of the day, they can make available their findings to the public instead of making mockery of themselves

If you insist the deduction made was legal, and the contract binding between both parties (Systemspec and FG), why did they return the #8.6 Billion they deducted back to the treasury?

BCISLTD:
thanks for the clarification. ..but my question is why are the software owners entitled to part of the 1%...shouldn't they just be paid royalty and small maintanace fee?

Sir, my company wrote a software for a TV game show and I regret not signing an agreement to earn money for life. You think say na yam abi.

Gbawe:


This is true. Some naivete on the path of the APC yet I feel the Party and Buhari will learn as long as Saraki, Melaye et al continue to show their hand too early and in time for the government to make amends and still retain the trust and support of Nigerians. The eagerness was to make TSA active asap so that the wholesale misappropriation of the past stopped. Yet the Government needs to start anticipating potential avenues of mischief from corrupt elements.

PMB can't get it right in one day, there has so much battering that the system had taken so, it is one day at a time & daily improvement....

He is learning on the job (civilian is a far cry from what he was used to ) & he is doing very well, only the wailers think otherwise...

One doesn't need clairvoyance to come to the conclusion that Dino & Saraki are up to no good...

BUT..

All the people that almost killed themselves for " water melony, appley & orangey committes are going to be left with eggs on their faces... ... Love it...

dammytosh:


Typing in bold does not hide your ignorance.


You know nothing about what you are saying.

Remita was built abroad ? Really ? --- M0r0n or liar ? what are you ?

I will leave you with this quote below :

"He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a f00l"
Anonymous.

[size=14pt]Please manage this quote:

"A fool will remain a fool even if he talks, walks or dresses like a wise man". [/size]

smuth:


You are too daft to know the Remita Software was built by developers abroad. What stops this government from doing same instead of allocating that huge amount as commission on every transactia Software they can purchase...na why I dey even waste m time to reply person wey no get sense.

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 revenues.

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

small maintenance fee? this sounds funny. they own the software, the FG needs it, they set the terms and negotiate. its business and not 'help'

BCISLTD:
thanks for the clarification. ..but my question is why are the software owners entitled to part of the 1%...shouldn't they just be paid royalty and small maintanace fee?

teepain:


At the bolded, what is illegal in a contract that was won through a competitive bidding process and payment made on the basis of that contractual agreement? Was it that the service was not rendered and payment was made to the vendor or that the vendor deducted beyond the 1% agreed?




I would not blame Dino Melaye or any other person for raising questions over this issue. However, the unfounded allegations that he made while at it suggests a not so noble objective. For a Senator who has access to information more than an average citizen to public state that "a Company stole $25 billion in a single day for doing nothing was alarming". At least, if CBN had queries they could have invited CBN,System Specs and other parties for clarification and at the end of the day, they can make available their findings to the public instead of making mockery of themselves

That is my point too. I conceded earlier that the Senate must rise to its 'oversight' role but this should never be done via making incendiary statements that then turn out to be totally false. To begin with, why would Melaye indicate "one" company is stealing N25 billion a day when it is easy for him to access information that shows the 1% fee is shared between SystemSpecs, commercial banks and the CBN? Also, where did Melaye get his own highly discordant N25 billion figures from?