The public accounts committee of the House of Representatives has ordered Remita, a financial solution provider, to refund the sum of N182.77 billion allegedly withheld from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) since 2015.
Industry watchers are at loss as to why the turn of events as Remita has severally received good approval ratings from Government agencies.
Recall that Hamisu Abdullahi, the director of Banking Services, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), had highlighted the merit-based selection of Remita to provide an electronic platform essential for facilitating payments from Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to beneficiary accounts across commercial banks.
He made this assertion when officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria appeared before the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee on March 28th, 2024 to respond to queries about Remita’s operation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) platform.
However, the House on Wednesday during a meeting in Abuja, issued a directive to Remita to refund N182.77 billion after the submission of an investigative report by a consulting firm, Seyi Katola & Company (Chartered accountants), pointed some inconsistency.
The involvement of the consulting firm to audit the TSA was a result of revenue leakages and non-remittance of funds by Ministries, Departments, and agencies through Remita, which led to the House mandating the Committee to investigate it.
Commenting on the outcome, Bamidele Salam, chairman of the public accounts committee said the resolution to refund N182.77 billion was based on evidence submitted by the audit firm, in conjunction with documents provided by Remita also called SystemSpecs as well as other stakeholders within the TSA network.
Dr. Adewale Oyebamiji, the managing partner of the consulting firm presented the breakdown for the liabilities, concluding that Remita is responsible for N3.42 billion in under-refunded transaction fees, N101.85 million in unpaid acquirer fees, and N179.25 billion in unremitted collections, and inclusive of interest charges calculated at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Rate of 27.25 percent.
The statement issued by the media unit of the public accounts committee recommended that SystemSpecs Limited should be mandated to refund the total sum of N182.77 billion to the Federal Government Asset Recovery Account.
Furthermore, the committee stated that other deposit money banks have complied with similar directives.
The company has yet to issue a public statement as at the time of filling this report.
