Mr John Obaro, Managing Director of SystemSpecs, owners of Remita, the e-payment and e-collection platform used for payments into the Treasury Single Account (TSA), has said that SystemSpecs and participating commercial banks took the business decision to return to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) the N8 billion it collected as charges for its services despite a valid contract backing the transaction.
At the same time, he blasted the Senators’ “unfortunate syndicated attempt” to discredit Remita, the indigenous platform which the Senate was misinformed into believing that N25 billion was paid out to SystemSpecs in one day for doing nothing.
“Nothing can be further from the truth and, by now, it is obvious to the world that the Senate was misled,” Obaro said and reminded the Federal Government as a whole, including the lawmakers, of respect for the sanctity of contracts.
The refunded N8 billion represents fees accrued from the one per cent TSA remittance charge collected by SystemSpecs, participating commercial banks and CBN from Federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
He did not disclose whether the commercial banks and CBN refunded the balance of N17 billion which made up the total of N25bn charged as one percent fees for the N2.5 trillion transferred on the Remita platform to CBN under the TSA.
Obaro told lawmakers in Abuja during a public hearing on the “Abuse and Mismanagement of Treasury Single Account (TSA) Regime” organised by the Senate Joint Committee on Finance, Banking, Insurance, and other Financial Institutions and Public Accounts.
The Senate had in early November blown the whistle on the one per cent charge on the reported N2.5 trillion moved to the TSA – incurring N25 billion fee. The Senate consequently ordered a probe.
Obaro told the Senate joint committee that although SystemSpecs was not averse to price renegotiation in view of “emerging realities”, the one per cent fee was discussed by all stakeholders, set by CBN and Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) and communicated to all MDAs by the CBN.
“We did not charge above the agreed rates,” he insisted. “On September 14, 2015, the OAGF had expressed concern at a project review meeting about the fees considering the enlarged scope of the project. SystemSpecs was not averse to price renegotiation. We wrote to the CBN that we are open to renegotiation and that an all-stakeholders’ meeting be convened.
“Three weeks later, on October 7, we wrote again that an all-stakeholders’ meeting should be convened to review the processing fees.
“Two weeks later, on October 27, we were instructed by CBN to refund all fees that had accrued to us in accordance with the contract. We strategically chose to comply within 24 hours of receipt of their letter as we did not want to allow the issue of fees in the heat of the moment to becloud the work we had done in the delivery of TSA for Nigeria. While refunding our own portion of the fees as demanded by CBN, however, we accompanied the refund with a fairly worded letter stating why the fees legitimately earned in line with our contract should be refunded to us.
“On November 11, two weeks after refunding all fees and operating zero fees at the risk of a legal battle with other stakeholders, without hearing our own side of the story, we were erroneously accused of fraud, abuse and mismanagement of the TSA in the hallowed chambers of this highly respected Senate.”
Obaro further said that the firm felt unfairly treated in the whole episode.
“To say the least, sir, we feel used, abused, unappreciated and abandoned by the country for which we stuck out our necks and faith to deliver the platform that made the TSA possible, which in other climes, all citizens would be proud of, acclaimed, encouraged and motivated to further the frontiers of greater technological breakthroughs and innovation,” he said, just as he wondered how enforcing the terms of a validly signed and subsisting contract amounted to fraud.
In what Obaro described as an “unfortunate syndicated attempt” to discredit Remita, he said the Senate was misled into believing that N25 billion was paid out to SystemSpecs in one day for doing nothing. Nothing can be further from the truth and, by now, it is obvious to the world that the Senate was misled.”
According to him, the objective of the detractors was to paint Remita black in order to achieve a set goal – to disrupt the technology platform and force government to abandon the TSA policy.
“Our consolation is that despite this barrage of syndicated attacks, many Nigerians and international observers believe that this TSA way is the way to go. We are proud that our indigenous Remita kick-started this project at a time when CBN had written to OAGF in 2011 to delay the commencement of the project because the technology was not yet in place.”
Obaro reminded the Federal Government of the importance of sanctity of contracts.
CBN, Accountant-General differ on TSA remittances
Meanwhile, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele, and the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF) Idris Ahmed differed on the size of the TSA remittances.
While the CBN governor told the Senate committee that TSA remittances by December 8 was N2.038 trillion, the AGF said it was N1.8 trillion.
According to the CBN governor, remittances through Remita was N1.419 trillion; Real-time Gross Settlement Systems (RTGS) of N233 billion and CBN direct payments, N269.7 billion.
Emefiele confessed that he had been aware of the one per cent charge until the Senate blew the whistle. But now, he described the charge as “too high” and “exorbitant”.
“The truth is that I would like to confess that I did not really know (because I have to say what I know) that there is one per cent charge being taken on that account until the Senate and the House of Representatives raised it when we were summoned to the Office of the Senate President and I sounded very surprised at that session. I promised that I was going to look into it.
“Indeed, I asked, who is Mr Obaro and what is this N25 billion about? I was very surprised because I didn’t know anything about it. It was immediately after that, that I swung into action and I discovered that the issue raised in the Office of the Senate President was right and I immediately called the MD of Remita to find out who he was and I insisted that the money had to be reversed. Immediately after that, it was reversed,” the CBN boss explained.
The accountant-general told the Senate Joint Committee that, by his records, there was no signed agreement by his office on TSA remittance service.
“As far as I am concerned, there is no agreement between the CBN and our office that is duly signed. My office has not made any payment to any service provider with respect to moving TSA. We have not made any payment. We have not engaged anybody and, therefore, we have not paid anybody. I don’t have any reason to hide any information; what I told you is what I know,” Ahmed said.
Debt Profile: Reps to probe all refineries’ operations
The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate the operations of the nation’s four petroleum refineries in order to determine their viability and whether there is a need to privatise them.
The House’ resolution was consequent upon the unanimous adoption of a motion tagged, “Call for Discontinuance of the Operations of Nigeria’s Refineries Due to the Heavy Debt Incurred by the Refineries and the Need for the Federal Government to Privatise the Refineries,” sponsored by Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama at plenary Wednesday.
The mover of the motion noted that Nigeria’s four refineries were constructed primarily to refine crude oil for local consumption and export to generate revenue for the country; but over the years, the refineries have had series of challenges and huge resources had been expended on their turnaround maintenance (TAM).
Ogbeide-Ihama reminded the House that Port Harcourt and Warri refineries were once sold to private investors by the government of former president Olusegun Obasanjo, which was reversed by the administration of the late president Umaru Yar’Adua.
He expressed worry that the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company, Port Harcourt Refining Company and Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company were reported by the NNPC to have incurred debts amounting to about N129.07 billion in the months of August and September 2015, while their combined revenues in the month of August was N146.617 billion, their expenditure was N207.287 billion in the month of September.
-Leadership