Govt realises N3tr from TSA, says SystemSpecs

• Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun

The Federal Government has saved N3 trillion in the Treasury Single Account (TSA), the firm handling it, SystemSpecs Limited, has said.

SystemSpecs Chief Executive Officer (CEO), John Obaro, who made this known last weekend, said the TSA has reduced debt servicing costs, liquidity reserves and enhanced the effective use of surplus cash.

He said his firm would continue to deliver on its terms of contract with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), despite being owed its fees on e-collections since March, last year.

Some banks, he said, were rejecting the collection of deposits for the non-payment of the fees. “From our end, we have continued to provide and support the Remita platform, 24 hours a day and seven days a week, for use by citizens for all their payments to the Federal Government. Our continued support for the TSA is fueled by our belief in the enormous benefits the Remita software brings to the implementation of TSA for the average citizen.

“We must admit though that we are excited and further driven by the fact that our indigenous Remita software has succeeded in powering the technological backbone for such a successful and strategic national initiative, along with other well meaning Nigerians, we do not want this to fail.”

He said in 2011, SystemSpecs signed a deal with the CBN to deploy its Remita software for the implementation of the TSA policy. The software, he said, can send and receive funds from all the 24 commercial banks, over 400 microfinance banks, and other payment channels, such as debit cards, mobile wallets and e-wallets.

“Remita is a wholly indigenous e-payment and e-collection software that harmonises inflows, remittances and expenditure for enhanced transparency and increased efficiency. The software has enabled government recoup over N3 trillion from accounts of MDAs, and instilled much needed fiscal discipline that allows the Ministry of Finance to have effective control over budget allocations,” he said.

Obaro said last October, the CBN directed SystemSpecs to return the earned fees on e-collections into TSA from last March, due to the spike created by the Presidential directive for all MDAs to comply with the TSA policy, which led to a huge influx of funds through the Remita/TSA platform.

He explained that though the global rate of commission on e-transactions varies from 1.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent, the three parties involved in the TSA project: commercial banks, the CBN and SystemSpecs agreed to a one per cent commission for the TSA e-collection, which will be shared 40 per cent, 10 per cent and 50 per cent.

Continuing, he said: “We are encouraged by the support from Nigerians, home and abroad, who take pride in the knowledge that, for the first time in our history, an indigenous company is responsible for the development of a payment software that seamlessly powers a sensitive national policy such as the TSA”.

He urged the Federal Government to end the negotiations on its payment, adding that the continued withholding of government’s earning is putting a burden on its operations.