Remita: Group Accuses Saraki of Plotting to Frustrate Buhari

An anti-corruption watchdog, The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) has accused Senate President, Bukola Saraki of plotting to frustrate the efforts of President Mohammad Buhari towards properly managing the aggregate revenue inflow of government.

The group also said the Nigerian Senate, under Saraki’s leadership is working at cross-purposes with its own campaign for the adoption of Made-in-Nigeria products by canvassing for the acquisition of foreign revenue aggregation software to replace an existing one created by a Nigerian in Nigeria.

In a letter written to the Senate President, CACOL accused Saraki of manipulating the Senate to frustrate the Treasury Single Account (TSA) regime currently being implemented via Remita, a financial software developed by Systemspecs Nigeria.

The letter, dated March 2, 2016 follows the report of the Joint Senate Committees on Finance; Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions; and Public Accounts, which had recommended the termination of the contract between Systemspecs and the Central Bank of Nigeria on the implementation of TSA via the REMITA platform.

CACOL, whose Executive Chairman, Debo Adeniran, signed the letter, accused the Senate under Saraki of double standards, especially given that in one breath, the Report “severally insinuates that there is no valid contract between SystemSpecs, the company that provided the Remita TSA collection platform and the CBN; and in another breath, recommends that the contract should be immediately terminated.”

“Our investigations however reveal that the CBN and the OAGF independently issued at least five circulars/letters at different times where Remita is specifically mentioned. Can institutions as big and structured as the CBN and OAGF do this without any contract between it and a vendor,” queried CACOL?

Labelling the Senate’s recommendation for termination of the contract as “provocative, retrogressive, insensitive and suspicious, CACOL raised five questions for the Senate, viz:

1.      What should happen to the investment in infrastructure, processes and people already put in place on account of the FGN TSA by the 18 commercial banks, over 400 micro-finance banks and other players in the electronic financial ecosystem?

2.      How are the millions of Nigerians who now pay for critical health services and students who pay tuition and other fees through TSA supposed to undertake such transactions the morning after the CBN would have been railroaded to cancel the Remita contract?

3.      What would immediately happen to CBN’s own internal control and operational processes in respect of management of the TSA which is now at the heart of the government’s cash assets and financial management?

4.      Are there other standby platforms immediately available to the CBN and OAGF to continue TSA operations without causing regrettable hitches to government operations and severe pain to citizens?

5.      If it has taken TSA collection operations about four (4) years to see the light of day, and the country is just beginning to reap dividends, which one would serve the larger interest of our country better at this time - contract termination or a review of commercial terms?

The letter also accused the Senate under Saraki’s leadership of sustaining the regime of disrespect for contractual agreements by some previous governments in Nigeria, factors the group blamed for the loss of faith in the Nigerian economy by many foreign investors.

Frowning at the recommendation by the Senate Joint Committee that REMITA be replaced by a foreign software, CACOL said the Senate has shown it clearly stands against the development of indigenous enterprise, contrary to its public posture.

Reminding the Senate that the commercially available foreign software like SAP, Oracle Financials, Epicor, Navision which it said would replace REMITA, are Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications and not e-payment solutions, CACOL accused the Senate of only paying lip service to “Patronize Made-in-Nigeria” campaign.

“How can one describe the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria asking the CBN to drop what has turned out to be an efficient locally developed application that has become the pride of the nation for a foreign one for no just reason.  Is this what other countries do,” the letter reads in part.

It also accused the Senate of sending the wrong signal to budding entrepreneurs and other Nigerians about investing their passion in remaining in Nigeria to build businesses that provide employment, feed families and contribute to national development and advised them to active partners with the Executive to consolidate on the gains of the TSA, and not be seen to be undermining it under any guise.

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