The Nation Newspaper

Tag: SystemSpecs

  • Govt realises N3tr from TSA, says SystemSpecs

    Govt realises N3tr from TSA, says SystemSpecs

    • Banks reject deposits over operator’s unpaid fees

    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.

  • Senate seeks termination of TSA contract with SystemSpecs

    The Senate on Wednesday asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to terminate forthwith the 2013 e-payment contract renewal with SystemSpecs.

    The upper chamber also ordered the CBN to disregard the one per cent charge provided in the contract agreement with SystemSpecs.

    As part of its contract with SystemSpecs, the apex bank agreed on the deduction of one per cent charge on all e-collections by SystemSpecs operator of REMITA Platform.

    This is part of 11- point recommendations made by the Senate Joint Committee on Finance, Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions and Public Accounts.

    The Senate in plenary adopted the recommendations as presented by Chairman of the Joint Committee, Senator John Owan Enoh.

    The submission of the committee was however not debated as Senate President, Bukola Saraki, ruled that only the recommendations of the committee would be considered.

    The Senate had, during its sitting on November 11, 2015, debated a motion on alleged “abuse and mismanagement of the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

    The upper chamber resolved to, among others, mandate its Joint committee on Finance, Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions and Public Accounts to conduct holistic investigation on the matter.

    It specifically mandated the committee to investigate the alleged abuse of the TSA and deduction of N25 billion from accounts of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) under the e-payment.

  • SystemSpecs boosts cashless with Remita

    SystemSpecs boosts cashless with Remita

    A Nigerian firm, SystemSpecs  Limited, has introduced an electronic collection platform, Remita, to ease money collection.

    According to the firm, Remita is a faster, safer and more convenient way of collecting money for both small and large scale enterprises as well as other collecting organisations.

    Its Managing Director, Mr. John Obaro, who spoke during the launch of the new platform, said the development is in line with the move by the Federal Government to close all revenue accounts of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) with commercial banks, incorporating them into a consolidated revenue fund taking effect from March 1 this year.

    Obaro said  the platform has been able to solve many complexities as regard the payment and collection of money. He said the idea behind Remita is making it  easy for people to pay and for collectors to receive money faster. He said it is opening up practically all bank branches making it easier to pay either with a bank card electronically or online or mobile banking.

    He explained that it is easy to set the e-collection portal up, adding that “for those who do not need full integration, you are ready to start receiving money within one hour and within two days for those that need technical integration.”

    Remita, according to Obaro, is the quickest and easiest way to connect to the  market and has the widest reach, in terms of options available to those who want to pay while signing up to Remita is absolutely free. This makes it friendly for both small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) and Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises (MSME).

    He said: “We make our money with your payments, your transactions and even at that, we are charging two per cent subject to a maximum of N2000, which is far below the market average,” he said, adding that the charge in the market is up to 3.5 per cent.

    “This feat has, however, been credited to the advanced technology put in place, making it easy to connect with the platform, which in turn takes away the initial connection fee. It requires easy steps to register by visiting remita.net.”

    Also speaking at the briefing in Lagos, its Executive Director, Deremi Atanda outlined the benefits, adding that Remita is bringing to the table a comprehensive package which is aimed at making the collection of payment simple.