The public accounts committee of house of representatives has directed Remita, a financial technology firm, to refund a total of N182.77 billion allegedly withheld from the treasury single account (TSA) since 2015 to the federal government.
The committee gave the directive on Wednesday during a meeting in Abuja.
The directive followed a submission of an investigative report by consulting firm Seyi Katola & Company (Chartered Accountants), a forensic audit that uncovered the discrepancy.
In November 2023, the house of representatives resolved to investigate alleged revenue leakages through the Remita platform.
Remita is an online payment service provider owned by SystemSpecs, a financial services company.
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The platform is used by federal government agencies to remit revenue into the treasury single account (TSA).
Speaking at the meeting on Wednesday, Bamidele Salam, chairman of the committee, said the resolution to repay the N182.77 billion was based on evidence submitted by the consultant, as well as documents provided by SystemSpecs/Remita and other stakeholders within the TSA ecosystem.
Adewale Oyebamiji, managing partner of the consulting firm, presented the breakdown of the liabilities.
According to Oyebamiji, SystemSpecs was responsible for N3.42 billion in under-refunded transaction processing fees, N101.85 million in unpaid acquirer fees, and N179.25 billion as unremitted collections.
On the other hand, the committee’s report, calculated at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) monetary policy rate of 27.25 percent presented the total payable by Remita for the first regime.
The committee also had their report, and they calculated the money to be remitted using the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) monetary policy rate (MPR) rate of 27.25 percent.
“Under-refund of transaction processing fee; amount refundable – N993 million, interest charges – N2.42 billion, totalling N3.42 billion,” the report reads.
“Non-payment of the acquirer fee has a refundable amount of N29.60 million, interest charges of N72.25 billion totalling: N101.85 million.
“In non-remittance of collection, Remita is to refund N54.24 billion with interest charges of N125 billion, totalling N179 billion.
“The committee hereby recommends that SystemSpecs Ltd be compelled to refund the total sum of N182,769,245,175.20 to the federal government asset recovery account domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), account number: 0020054161191.”
The committee added that some deposit money banks have already complied with a similar repayment directive.
The public accounts committee called on other TSA value chain service providers who are yet to comply to do so promptly.
Salam also commended the forensic consultants, describing their effort as a thorough and patriotic job.
