I find the media noise and opposition over TSA as unnecessary, unpatriotic and ill-conceived. The reason for my position I shall spell out.(Apologies for the lengthy epistle)
Before The TSA Regime...
Prior to the implementation of TSA, government Ministries, Departments and Agencies usually have their respective accounts where monies are lodged. What happened during this period was that a DG of an Agency or Executive Chairman will open an account for the Agency that he is in charge of, lodge monies there and make illegal withdrawals in connivance with corrupt bank officials. 70% of this fraud go undetected except an insider raised an alarm. We have had cases in the past where DG's of Agencies will deposit funds belonging to the agency in a commercial bank that he has interest. Even when alarm is raised, he will simply come out to sermonise us how he has been keeping these monies for the public and use court injunctions to evade justice, whereas his original intent was to divert it. A perfect example was the case of former Vice President and APC Chieftain Atiku Abubakar. As Chairman of Petroleum Training Development Fund(PTDF), Atiku lodged over $30million and $164 in Trans International Bank and Equatorial Trust Bank respectively from the account of PTDF according to EFCC's forensive indictment in 2006. In fact, 'loans' that yielded interest as high as 15% to the banks were collected from the said banks by Atiku and his proteges AFTER PTDF millions of dollars has been lodged with the illegal account. It was all business! When the deal was busted in 2006, Atiku simply said that he 'kept the monies for safe-keeping' and even claimed that he deserves commendation. What about cases of DG's and ministers that must have gone unreported? How did Tafa Balogun manage to loot his billions as Police IG? Hundreds of billions that cannot be quantified have left Nigerian treasury unreported and undetected before now.
With the coming of TSA, all these anomalies have been taken care of. The recurring act of ministers or DGs of Agencies opening illegal private account in a commercial bank for illicit activity has been eliminated. Everyone now operate with a single account that is managed by the CBN. In fact, every goat shall see free yams no more(with due respect to GEJ's Goat and Yam theory). We shall see how a prospective goat intend to eat our little yam(that isn't even enough for us) without being caught by the authorities.
The Controversial N25billion and The 1% Commission:
When Otunba Dino Malaye raised the tale of Systemspecs(owner of the Remitta software) collecting N25billion(1%) of the monies processed so far, I asked myself whether Dino is living in the same Nigeria with me or somewhere else. The position of Dino is flawed for two basic reasons;
1. It amounts to stark ignorance to think that Nigeria has N2.5trillion cash at present. I even doubt if we have 50% of the said money. Naturally, such gossip shouldn't have been peddled by a senator of this great country. It is left for the men at beer parlours. Thankfully, Ibrahim Muazu, CBN's Public Communication director clarified the whole thing when it said that, an estimated sum of N1.2trillion is what was expected to be moved to the government account all through the whole exercise.
2. From the report of PremiumTimes, it was explained that Systemspec is only entitled 50% of the 1%. While the Banks and CBN get 40% and 10% respectively. An excerpt of the agreement reads..
I think Dino should tell Nigerians where he got his own figure from.
Ex-AGF Jonah Otunla Deserves Commendation From Nigerians:
Sincerely, I'm not too pleased with the arrangement of 0.5% going to the Systemspec. It is very exorbitant and highly unsustainable when considering the huge amount involved. I wish the sum can be renegotiated but we MUST give kudos to the former Accountant-General that came up with the deal.
According to the report on PT, before the agreement was signed in 2013, Systemspecs proposed a commission of 1.5%, Commercial banks proposed 5%, while a committee setup by CBN and AGF's office proposed 2.5%. It was the exAGF Atunla that overruled all the proposals to 1%. This will see the software providers get 0.5%(as against their proposed 1.5%), Banks 0.4%(against 5%) and CBN 0.1%. Some officials would have negotiated their own cut and agree with the earlier proposals(or even increased it). May God Bless Jonah Atunla for acting in the interest of the public.
Kudos To Dr Goodluck Jonathan:
When Jonathan was explaining his now famous Yam and Goat theory, he made mention of removing the yam from the goat so as to make it difficult for the goat to eat the yam. He then stated that he was building institutions that will tackle corruption once and for all. Though, there were few goats whose prosecution was demanded by some Nigerians during Jonathan's era, I believe that it will be fair for us to clap hands for him for conceiving and promoting this policy that will further alienate the goat from the yam. Indeed, he had plans of separating the goats from the yams and he meant his words. His administration started the implementation of TSA actually in March 2015. The CBN/OAGF gave the directive for commencement in February 2015. In fact, this was captured in CBN's letter to Systemspecs, which I quote....
Bravo President Muhammadu Buhari
It takes a selfless leader to continue good initiative and policies of his/her predecessor. We have seen cases where successors discontinue policies of their predecessors to do 'their own'. Irrespective of party and tribal divide, President Buhari deserves commendation from Nigerians and not knocks for continuing with this wonderful policy. If there is ANY single thing that Buhari should be commended for since his government came to office, it is the TSA continuation.
Despite being in opposition, I'm praising Buhari for taking a patriotic step. I understand that this is in contrast with the APC position when they were in opposition. They never commended the FOI law, they opposed military crackdown against BH terrorists and even opposed the designation of BH as terrorists organisation. I believe that we all should play politics of patriotism irrespective of our partisan leaning. Nigeria's interest should take preeminence in all our decisions.
On Senate's Probe...
I still don't know what the Senate is probing but I support the probe on condition that their intent isn't to ask the Executive to stop the policy. They should investigate to know whether or not a fraud has taken place at anytime of the process. They should ensure that their probe is to strengthen TSA for public interest. However, they MUST not attempt to stop the policy, because it will be resisted. They shouldn't also consider opting out of the TSA because that will be fought against by the masses.
May God Bless Us All and Bless Nigeria
Before The TSA Regime...
Prior to the implementation of TSA, government Ministries, Departments and Agencies usually have their respective accounts where monies are lodged. What happened during this period was that a DG of an Agency or Executive Chairman will open an account for the Agency that he is in charge of, lodge monies there and make illegal withdrawals in connivance with corrupt bank officials. 70% of this fraud go undetected except an insider raised an alarm. We have had cases in the past where DG's of Agencies will deposit funds belonging to the agency in a commercial bank that he has interest. Even when alarm is raised, he will simply come out to sermonise us how he has been keeping these monies for the public and use court injunctions to evade justice, whereas his original intent was to divert it. A perfect example was the case of former Vice President and APC Chieftain Atiku Abubakar. As Chairman of Petroleum Training Development Fund(PTDF), Atiku lodged over $30million and $164 in Trans International Bank and Equatorial Trust Bank respectively from the account of PTDF according to EFCC's forensive indictment in 2006. In fact, 'loans' that yielded interest as high as 15% to the banks were collected from the said banks by Atiku and his proteges AFTER PTDF millions of dollars has been lodged with the illegal account. It was all business! When the deal was busted in 2006, Atiku simply said that he 'kept the monies for safe-keeping' and even claimed that he deserves commendation. What about cases of DG's and ministers that must have gone unreported? How did Tafa Balogun manage to loot his billions as Police IG? Hundreds of billions that cannot be quantified have left Nigerian treasury unreported and undetected before now.
With the coming of TSA, all these anomalies have been taken care of. The recurring act of ministers or DGs of Agencies opening illegal private account in a commercial bank for illicit activity has been eliminated. Everyone now operate with a single account that is managed by the CBN. In fact, every goat shall see free yams no more(with due respect to GEJ's Goat and Yam theory). We shall see how a prospective goat intend to eat our little yam(that isn't even enough for us) without being caught by the authorities.
The Controversial N25billion and The 1% Commission:
When Otunba Dino Malaye raised the tale of Systemspecs(owner of the Remitta software) collecting N25billion(1%) of the monies processed so far, I asked myself whether Dino is living in the same Nigeria with me or somewhere else. The position of Dino is flawed for two basic reasons;
1. It amounts to stark ignorance to think that Nigeria has N2.5trillion cash at present. I even doubt if we have 50% of the said money. Naturally, such gossip shouldn't have been peddled by a senator of this great country. It is left for the men at beer parlours. Thankfully, Ibrahim Muazu, CBN's Public Communication director clarified the whole thing when it said that, an estimated sum of N1.2trillion is what was expected to be moved to the government account all through the whole exercise.
2. From the report of PremiumTimes, it was explained that Systemspec is only entitled 50% of the 1%. While the Banks and CBN get 40% and 10% respectively. An excerpt of the agreement reads..
“A tariff of 1% of the funds collected shall be charged for the government revenue collections: i. Platform Owner/ SystemSpecs: 50%, ii. Collecting Agents/DMBs (banks): 40%, iii. Introducer? CBN: 10%,”If this is the case, then there is NO way Systemspecs would have pocketed N25billion even IF N2.5trillion has been processed(which is NOT correct). If we are to follow the government position that less than N900billion has been processed, it means Systemspec must have pocketed something close to N4.5billion. This amount is 18% of the vague figure raised by Dino.
I think Dino should tell Nigerians where he got his own figure from.
Ex-AGF Jonah Otunla Deserves Commendation From Nigerians:
Sincerely, I'm not too pleased with the arrangement of 0.5% going to the Systemspec. It is very exorbitant and highly unsustainable when considering the huge amount involved. I wish the sum can be renegotiated but we MUST give kudos to the former Accountant-General that came up with the deal.
According to the report on PT, before the agreement was signed in 2013, Systemspecs proposed a commission of 1.5%, Commercial banks proposed 5%, while a committee setup by CBN and AGF's office proposed 2.5%. It was the exAGF Atunla that overruled all the proposals to 1%. This will see the software providers get 0.5%(as against their proposed 1.5%), Banks 0.4%(against 5%) and CBN 0.1%. Some officials would have negotiated their own cut and agree with the earlier proposals(or even increased it). May God Bless Jonah Atunla for acting in the interest of the public.
Kudos To Dr Goodluck Jonathan:
When Jonathan was explaining his now famous Yam and Goat theory, he made mention of removing the yam from the goat so as to make it difficult for the goat to eat the yam. He then stated that he was building institutions that will tackle corruption once and for all. Though, there were few goats whose prosecution was demanded by some Nigerians during Jonathan's era, I believe that it will be fair for us to clap hands for him for conceiving and promoting this policy that will further alienate the goat from the yam. Indeed, he had plans of separating the goats from the yams and he meant his words. His administration started the implementation of TSA actually in March 2015. The CBN/OAGF gave the directive for commencement in February 2015. In fact, this was captured in CBN's letter to Systemspecs, which I quote....
“Since the cost of the collection must have been shared by all the stakeholders, you are hereby required to also provide a schedule of the total amount collected and the portion that was shared to each of the three participants. The schedule should be prepared on month by month basis, from the commencement of the TSA implementation in March 2015, to date. We will recover the share to the CBN and the DMBs,”www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/193213-full-details-of-tsa-dino-melaye-misled-nigerian-senate-on-n25-billion-claim.html
Bravo President Muhammadu Buhari
It takes a selfless leader to continue good initiative and policies of his/her predecessor. We have seen cases where successors discontinue policies of their predecessors to do 'their own'. Irrespective of party and tribal divide, President Buhari deserves commendation from Nigerians and not knocks for continuing with this wonderful policy. If there is ANY single thing that Buhari should be commended for since his government came to office, it is the TSA continuation.
Despite being in opposition, I'm praising Buhari for taking a patriotic step. I understand that this is in contrast with the APC position when they were in opposition. They never commended the FOI law, they opposed military crackdown against BH terrorists and even opposed the designation of BH as terrorists organisation. I believe that we all should play politics of patriotism irrespective of our partisan leaning. Nigeria's interest should take preeminence in all our decisions.
On Senate's Probe...
I still don't know what the Senate is probing but I support the probe on condition that their intent isn't to ask the Executive to stop the policy. They should investigate to know whether or not a fraud has taken place at anytime of the process. They should ensure that their probe is to strengthen TSA for public interest. However, they MUST not attempt to stop the policy, because it will be resisted. They shouldn't also consider opting out of the TSA because that will be fought against by the masses.
May God Bless Us All and Bless Nigeria
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