The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate revenue leakages, as well as non remittance of revenue generated by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) through the Remita platform.
The House also mandated its Committee on Public Account to undertake the investigation and report back to it within four weeks, for further legislative actions.
This followed the adoption of a motion by Jeremiah Umaru and Jafaruw Gambo, calling for a probe of revenue leakages and alleged non-remittance of revenue generated through the Remita platform.
The agreements, according to the House, were signed among Deposit Money Banks, Office of The Accountant General, Systemspec, Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) and the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN).
In his lead debate, Hon Umaru told the House that Remita, a software and financial service platform owned by System-Specs, is responsible for managing Government Revenues. He explained that the platform has served as a gateway for the Treasury Single Account (TSA) of the Federal government since 2012.
The lawmaker noted that since its inception, N8.7 trillion has been processed through the platform. He explained that prior to the deployment of the software, the government operated
over 15,000 bank accounts operated by MDAs.
H expressed concerns that despite the TSA, there is still a proliferation of account by MDAs, under multiple sub-accounts, in the CBN, thereby negating the policy.
“the TSA system has created a cashless economy, transparency and effective tracking of cash assets with attendant accountability. It has not indeed fully blocked leakages and abuses by
the proliferation of CBN Sub-Accounts.
A1% 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.
“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.
“If this 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. A larger percentage of deposit money banks has formed the habit of delay in on-ward remittance or sweeping of revenues collected to Central Bank of Nigeria.” The motion said.
The committee is expected to probe alleged non-compliance with Standard Operating Procedures and other allied
Service Level Agreements.
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