The House of Representatives has raised questions to Access Bank, Citi Bank, Ecobank, and Fidelity Bank regarding the N11.632 trillion revenue collected on behalf of the federal government through the REMITA platform from the fiscal years 2015 to 2022.
Rep. Bamidele Salam, Chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts, presented the inquiry during the resumed investigative hearing on alleged revenue leakages through the REMITA platform in Abuja.
The investigation also addressed issues of non-compliance with standard operating procedures and related service agreements.
The committee requested copies of all agreements signed between the domestic banks involved and Systemspec/REMITA during the period under review.
According to records obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Access Bank processed a total of N2.661 trillion across 3,502,486 transactions from 2015 to 2022. Access Bank’s records submitted to the Committee indicated that N2,660,974,062,151.62 in revenue was collected during the period, with N858,734,455.99 earned for the services rendered.
Similarly, Citi Bank reported collecting N643,427,225,110.96 between 2016 and 2022.
According to records provided by Citi Bank to the Committee, a total of N34,656,636,415.24 in transactions occurred in 2016, earning the bank N2,435,932.34 in fees. Similarly, transactions totaling N61,023,589,404.01 took place in 2018, resulting in an earned fee of N9,134,312.05. However, the bank did not disclose the fees earned for the fiscal years 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.
In addition, Ecobank’s records revealed that it collected N1,480,576,309.08 from 1,557,487 transactions conducted between 2015 and 2022. During this period, Ecobank earned fees totaling N253,848,598.05.
Further examination of Fidelity Bank’s transaction records indicated that a total of N6.847 trillion was collected on behalf of the Federal Government through 11,696,547 transactions from 2015 to 2022. From these transactions, the bank accrued fees amounting to N789,294,408.86.
Speaking to the bank representatives, the committee asked for copies of all agreements between the banks and Systemspec/REMITA for the collection of government revenue during the specified period.
The legislators also requested a detailed breakdown of Value Added Tax (VAT) and Withholding Tax (WHT) collected during that time frame, along with proof of payment into the appropriate government accounts.