The Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mr Godwin Emefilie and the Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris have washed their hands off the appointment of Remita, a subsidiary of System Spec, billed to manage the transfer of public funds from commercial banks to the central bank in line with the Federal Government’s directive that all government Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs) should operate the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
Emefiele and Idris maintained this stance when they appeared before the Senate, which is investigating the operation of the TSA and the alleged payment of N25 billion to System Spec. Idris disclosed that he had at no time recommended the appointment of System Tech or signed any payment for the firm to facilitate the transfer of funds from all Federal Government agencies to the CBN. “I was approached to sign a document on the appointment of System Spec but I refused to sign because I was not party to the terms. Part of the reasons was that I disagreed with the payment of one per cent charge. There is no agreement between my office and the CBN on the appointment of Remita (System Spec). My office has never made any payment to anybody including Remita (System Spec) as far as this TSA transaction is concerned”, Idris said.
On his part, Emefiele said: “I must openly and honestly own up to you that I did not know that one per cent was being deducted on the transfer of funds to TSA until the Senate raised it. I immediately called Remita (System Spec) and insisted that they should reverse and return the money they collected. That is what I know.”
By Dike Onwuamaeze