FG rakes in N34trn from REMITA in 7 years

By Tom Okpe

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of REMITA, Deremi Atanda, has disclosed that the platform generated and remitted N34.311 trillion to the Federation Account from 2015 to 2022.

Atanda made the disclosure during an investigative hearing on alleged revenue leakages through REMITA platform and non-compliance with standard operating procedure.

The investigative hearing was conducted on Wednesday in Abuja by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts.

The committee extended invitation to the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Yemi Cardoso.

READ ALSO: Economic Saboteurs: NSCDC Declare War On Vandals

The Minister and the CBN Governor would be shedding light on details of the agreement between Systemspec/REMITA and the apex bank on revenue collection.

The are to give account of the roles played by each of the institutions in the contract agreement.

Documents presented to the Committee indicated that a few of N343.109 billion was due at a contracted rate of one per cent, which the stakeholders are entitled to, against the conventional five to seven per cent fee.

According to the agreement signed in 2015, the sum of N23.922bn actual fee income was applied.

Based on the 2018 circular on the chargeable fee guidelines on e-collection, the sharing formula showed that all the stakeholders are to share the sum of N150 per transaction.

Atanda gave a breakdown of the sharing formula this; Banks – 33 per cent, CBN 11 per cent, NIBBS – 10.5 per cent, office of Accountant General of the Federation (oAGF) 2.5 per cent, while REMITA and other stakeholders, including card issuers are entitled to 43 per cent of the chargeable fees.

While dismissing insinuation that REMITA imposed additional fee apart from the approved N150, which represents 10 cents at the current exchange rate, Atanda pointed out that the REMITA payment gateway platform provides additional technology services to the Federation at no cost, despite paying in foreign exchange for hosting the platform on a cloud-based platform.

He said: “The sum of N1.5trn was remitted through the platform in 2015, N2.8 trillion in 2016, N3.7 trillion in 2017, N4.6 trillion in 2018, N4.6 trillion in 2019, N4.2 trillion in 2020, COVID year, N6trillion in 2021 while N6.8trillion was realized in 2022 fiscal year, respectively.”

He confirmed that the CBN engaged REMITA to provide service as part of efforts geared towards shoring up revenue accruing to the Federation, reaffirming that relevant agreements were signed and standard operating procedures, followed.

The MD also disclosed that CBN and the office of the Accountant General of the Federation have 100 per cent access to the platform while all revenues accruing into each of the 1,137 MDAs that permit, through the REMITA platform get the funds immediately such revenues are accessed by the apex bank.

While responding to questions concerning the possible area of leakages, Atanda urged the Parliament to ensure that all dollar-related revenue, should be captured into the revenue collection gateway, as the focus has been strictly on the Naira revenue over the past eight to nine years.

He, however, noted that the number of MDAs that pay through REMITA has been inconsistent as some get approval to pull out at various times.

He dismissed the allegation that REMITA has some unaccounted revenue, adding that, “there is no N29 billion accrued from National Housing Fund, (NHF) trapped on REMITA payment platform as alleged by one of the lawmakers.

While responding to questions on contracts signed with REMITA, the Accountant General of the Federation who was represented by Director Single Treasury, Mohammed Bello disclosed that the 2.5 per cent fee accrued to OAGF goes directly into the Federal Government’s account, not OAGF’s account.

In his ruling, the committee chairman, Bamidele Salam, underscored the need for the appearance of the Finance Minister and the CBN Governor at the next sitting on February 20.