How Dino Melaye misled the Senate on TSA, Remita

Indications have emerged regarding how the lawmaker representing
Kogi West Senatorial District, Senator Dino Melaye misled his colleagues
and other Nigerians with allegations that Remita, a payment platform
owned by SystemSpecs, is milking the country by charging 1% as fee
on all transactions in the Treasury Single Account, TSA.

This is as a letter issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on
December 17, 2013 and circulated to all Deposit Money Banks, may
have rubbished Senator Melaye’s claim.
In the letter titled “Commencement of Federal Government independent
revenue collection under the Treasury Single Account (TSA) initiative”
the CBN agreed that “a fee of 1% of funds collected is payable; and
this would be shared by solution provider and participating banks”.
Further investigations revealed that the apex bank, before choosing
Remita as gateway, examined existing local and foreign infrastructures
before its endorsement and choice of the platform. Aside approaching
NIBSS; a company owned by all Nigeria banks; including the CBN, the
apex bank also reviewed the suitability of RTGS provided by CMA a
foreign software house, and was convinced about its unsuitability
before SystemSpecs’ Remita was considered.
According to facts sourced online and via the company website,
Remita is a payment platform and not a company as many including
Senator Melaye would want the upper chamber to believe.
Media reports also claimed that SystemSpecs; owner of Remita-the
CBN licensed payment gateway has been in existence for about
23years while Remita has been holding sway in the electronic payments
space for about 10 years- long before the advent of TSA.
Investigations revealed that during evaluation, the CBN’s requirement-
which was an integrated platform that connect to the banks and CBN’s
platform, appeared beyond the reach of locally available solution.
Nevertheless, to make the selection process transparent, the CBN
invited other companies to participate in the bidding as was the
required procedure. CBN sources said Remita was offered the TSA
project because of its unique capabilities to deliver on the requirement.
Further investigations showed that the Office of the Accountant General
of the Federation, OAGF, and the World Bank supported the project and
its evaluation. “After due diligence, the contract was given to
Systemspecs to deploy Remita as the CBN TSA Payment Gateway,” the
CBN source said.
On the Kogi Senator’s disclosure that Remita is a collection agent, the
CBN source debunked this by saying “TSA is not just about collections,
but payment and collection. The payment component started since
January 2012 with little or no resistance. However, Collections which
will have greatest impact on the economy by curbing corruption and
blocking leakages was frustrated and repeatedly delayed until the new
administration came in and insisted it must take off.”