The House of Representatives has ordered financial technology firm Remita to refund N182.7 billion to the federal government after a forensic audit revealed the funds were withheld from the Treasury Single Account since 2015. This decision followed a detailed investigation by the Public Accounts Committee, which acted on findings presented during a hearing held in Abuja. The inquiry was based on a forensic report submitted by Seyi Katola & Company, a firm of chartered accountants engaged by the House to investigate revenue leakages and unremitted funds by government agencies using the Remita platform.
Chairman of the committee, Bamidele Salam, explained that the directive to recover the money was backed by clear evidence provided by the consultants and supporting documents submitted by SystemSpecs, the company that owns Remita, as well as other players involved in managing the Treasury Single Account.
According to Dr Adewale Oyebamiji, the managing partner of the consulting firm, the audit discovered that Remita failed to remit N179.2 billion in collections, under-refunded transaction fees amounting to N3.4 billion, and failed to pay N101.8 million in acquirer fees. These figures include interest charges calculated using the Central Bank of Nigeria’s monetary policy rate of 27.25 percent.
Specifically, under-refunded transaction fees stood at N993 million, with interest charges pushing the total to over N3.4 billion. The unpaid acquirer fees, initially N29.6 million, increased to N101.8 million after interest was applied. The largest portion involved non-remitted funds collected through Remita, which amounted to N54.2 billion, with interest bringing the total to N179.2 billion. Altogether, the recoverable sum from SystemSpecs was confirmed to be N182,769,245,175.20.
The committee has recommended that this full amount be transferred to the Federal Government Asset Recovery Account held at the Central Bank of Nigeria under account number 0020054161191. It was also revealed that some commercial banks had already complied with similar refund instructions, while others in the Treasury Single Account value chain were urged to act quickly and follow suit.
Representative Salam praised the consultants for conducting what he described as a thorough and patriotic assignment. He stressed that their work reinforces transparency and strengthens Nigeria’s fiscal management systems.
