Mr. ‘Deremi Atanda, REMITA’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, has revealed that the platform facilitated the generation of N34.311 trillion in revenue for the Federation Account between 2015 and 2022.
His revelation came during his appearance before the House of Representatives Public Account Committee (PAC) in Abuja.
Atanda noted that in 2015, N1.5 trillion was remitted via the platform, followed by N2.8 trillion in 2016, N3.7 trillion in 2017, N4.6 trillion in 2018, N4.6 trillion in 2019, N4.2 trillion in 2020 during the COVID-19 year, N6 trillion in 2021, and N6.8 trillion in the 2022 fiscal year, respectively.
He refuted the suggestion that REMITA imposed additional fees beyond the approved N150 (equivalent to 10% at the current exchange rate) on revenue-generating MDAs.
More insight
- The REMITA Managing Director clarified that the REMITA payment gateway platform offers additional technology services to the Federation at no extra cost, despite paying in foreign exchange for hosting the platform on a cloud-based platform.
- Mr Atanda stated that the company was enlisted by the CBN as a measure to bolster the federation’s revenue.
- He further noted that appropriate agreements were executed, and standard operating procedures adhered to.
- He elaborated that both the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation have full access to the platform.
- Additionally, all revenues collected by the 1,137 MDAs using the REMITA platform are instantly available to them, with the apex bank accessing these funds on a daily basis, Atanda revealed.
- Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Public Account Committee (PAC) has maintained its demand for the appearance of the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, and the CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso, concerning the investigation into alleged revenue leakages through the REMITA platform.
- The PAC chairman Bamidele Salam emphasized the necessity for Edun and Cardoso to personally appear before the lawmakers.
(Nairametrics)
