The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), and the Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edun, have denied knowledge of a contract between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Systemspecs/Remita for revenue collection among the Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs).
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The duo spoke during the resumed investigative hearing by the House of Representatives Public Account Committee in Abuja.
The ministers’ denial followed a motion on: “Alleged revenue leakages through the Remita platform and non-compliance with the standard operating procedure and other allied service level agreements.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Systemspecs is a financial technology company that has been providing Remita payment gateway for majority of government agencies since 2015.
Fagbemi and Edun expressed concerns over issues of discrepancies and irregularities in the nation’s procurement process.
The AGF, who represented by a deputy director in the ministry, Yusuf Mohammed, said the ministry was not aware of the contract.
“It is entirely honoured practice that all agreements that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) agreed on must be vetted and cleared by the AGF.
“Then, it is another practice, which is anchored on the Constitution, that all agreements that commit the government to an amount – up to N50 million and above – have to be cleared and vetted by the AGF.
“There is a circular on that. So, I don’t know if there is such an agreement, it could have passed through the Ministry of Justice,” he said.
The Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Mr. Okokon Udo, said: “It is the Office of the AGF that is in charge of receipts and payments.
“There was no physical payment expected from Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). It was the CBN that provided the banking infrastructure and the platform through which the payment would be made.
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“The agreement was between the CBN and the payment system provider, which is the SystemSpecs. There is no record that the Ministry of Finance signed an agreement with the consultant who provides the platform.”
The Chairman of House Committee on Public Accounts, Bamidele Salam said the record did not show the signature of the AGF.
“Will you consider this as standard practice that an agreement that touches on collection of revenue for the government, running into several trillions of naira, should be executed without the approval of the Federal Ministry of Finance?” Salam asked Udo.
Responding, the permanent secretary said: “We will come up with measures that there is effective collaboration and cooperation. There should be a synergy that will lead to the achievement of good results.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that N34.311 trillion revenue was generated through Remita platform into the Federation Account between 2015 and 2022.
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