NCS: Suspension of Remita Services from TSA Will Erode ICT Gains

Emma Okonji

The Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), the umbrella body for all information technology (IT) professionals in Nigeria, has condemned the suspension of Remita services from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) by the federal government.

The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) recently clarified that Remitta remains the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) approved payment gateway and had said the federal government had not discarded the platform.

The OAGF had explained that Remita would rather be integrated into the Treasury Management and Revenue Assurance (TMRAS) alongside other eligible Payment Solution Service Providers (PSSPs) for government revenue collection and remittances to enhance liberalisation.

Remita is a software application that manages federal government finances and financial transactions across the country.

The Remita software, which was developed by SystemSpecs, an indigenous IT company of over 35 years experience and a member of NCS, was said to have saved the federal government billons of Naira that would have been lost in different accounts hitherto operated by the federal government before the introduction of TSA and the emergence of Remita.

However, President of NCS, Dr. Muhammad Sirajo Aliyu, who spoke at a press conference in Lagos yesterday, told journalists that the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) had written SystemSpecs, informing the IT company of the plans by government to introduce a new payment platform known as the Treasury Management and Revenue Assurance System that would take effect from March 4, 2025.

The new payment platform seeks to streamline and manage federal government revenue collections and payments across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government.

“Why should the federal government decide to introduce a new payment platform that will manage its funds collection across MDAs, when Remita is active and efficient?

“Did the government consider the implications for the transfer of existing data and the training of new staff that will need sufficient time to implement the new payment software? Did government consider the effect on subsidiaries that have plugged into the TSA, using Remita payment software?

“Did the government consider the wrong signal that the switch in payment software for TSA will send to industry stakeholders and investors?” Aliyu asked.

According to him, the concept of TSA was to ensure transparency in managing government finances through a single aggregator, and there would be no need to introduce another payment platform when Remita is still active as the aggregator to TSA.

“Nigeria’s TSA implementation powered by indigenous technology has been widely acknowledged as one of the most successful worldwide.

“It has been celebrated by four different successive governments in Nigeria who boldly sang its praises for delivering mega savings to government.

“Nigeria needs to celebrate its own. The TSA project is arguably the largest and most successful software driven IT project delivered 100 per cent on a 100 per cent indigenous technology by a Nigerian IT company,” Aliyu said.

Vice President of NCS, Dr. Charles Onyeukwu, who also warned against the alleged move to suspend Remita from TSA, said the federal government ought to have discussed the issue, if any, with a professional body like NCS, before considering introducing new payment software to replace Remita.