Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Agency Report
Published on 2024-02-20 14:00:54
The House of Representatives has raised concerns about the revenue collected on behalf of the federal government through the REMITA platform from 2015 to 2022, totaling N11.632 trillion. This led to a query issued by Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Bamidele Salam, during the investigative hearing on alleged revenue leakages through REMITA platform in Abuja.
The investigation also covered the non-compliance with standard operating procedure and other allied service agreements. In this regard, the committee demanded all the agreements signed between all the participating domestic banks and Systemspec/REMITA during the period under review.
According to records obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Access Bank, Citi Bank, Ecobank, and Fidelity Bank were queried for their roles in collecting and managing the revenue. Access Bank collected a total sum of N2.661 trillion for 3,502,486 transactions between 2015 and 2022. Additionally, Access Bank records submitted to the Committee showed that a total sum of N2,660,974,062,151.62 was collected as revenue, with N858,734,455.99 earned as the fee for the service rendered.
On the other hand, Citi Bank collected the sum of N643,427,225,110.96 between 2016 and 2022, with the bank earning N2,435,932.34 in fees for a total of N34,656,636,415.24 transactions carried out in 2016. However, CitiBank’s failure to disclose the fees earned for additional fiscal years in question raised concerns regarding transparency and completeness of financial reporting.
Ecobank, for its part, collected the sum of N1,480,576,309.08 from 1,557,487 transactions carried out between 2015 and 2022. From the amount, Ecobank earned the sum of N253,848,598.05 in fees within the review period.
Fidelity Bank’s available records on transactions showed that the bank collected N6.847 trillion in revenue in 11,696,547 transactions carried out between 2015 to 2022. Moreover, the bank generated N789,294,408.86 as the fee for the period under consideration.
During the hearing, the committee addressed the bank representatives and requested all contracts signed by the banks with Systemspec/REMITA for collecting the revenue on behalf of the federal government for the period under review. Additionally, the lawmakers demanded a breakdown of Value Added Tax (VAT) and Withholding Tax (WHT) collected within the period, along with evidence of payment into relevant government coffers.
The query by the House of Representatives serves as a call for transparency and accountability in the management of government revenue collected through the REMITA platform. It seeks to ensure that the funds collected are managed in compliance with established procedures and fully disclosed. The outcome of this investigation will likely have significant implications for the banking and financial sector as well as government revenue management practices.
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