The Senate on Wednesday urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) not to renew Systemspecs contract of 2013 and to disregard the one per cent charge provided in the contract.
The Senate also ordered the apex bank to show evidence of all refunds made by Systemspecs and to identify and recommend for prosecution all those involved in approving the contract.
These were part of the 11 recommendations made to the chamber by the Committees on Banking and Public Accounts.
While adopting the 11 recommendations, the lawmakers directed the CBN to carry out in-house enquiry to sanitise its system of contract awards.
The committees were mandated by the Senate to investigate alleged abuse of Treasury Single Account (TSA) and deduction of N25 billion from accounts of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
While noting that the company deducted only N7.6 billion, the senate advised the CBN to pay N656.50 million as transaction cost for funds transfer collection for the period ended Nov. 30, 2015.
The senate’s approval of the payment was based on CBN wage band of N700 per transaction for electronic transfer payment which it approved.
The upper chamber also charged its standing committees to tighten their oversight role in order to ensure a hitch-free and smooth implementation of the TSA.
It directed the Committee on Public Accounts to investigate and ensure that payments being made by the CBN had not been made previously.
It told the committee to ensure that all payments made in excess of CBN approved rates were paid back to the Federation Account.
In his remarks, the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, commended the committees and reiterated that the CBN must show evidence of compliance with all the directives of the Senate.
He said that the report and recommendations had proved that the Senate was not against the TSA as alleged, but was only against exorbitant charges in the name of TSA.
“I think that the message we are sending out today is very clear that whatever is in the interest of our great country that will ensure proper use of funds, this senate will stand firmly for that.
“I think this is a good example; by this action, this country is saving close to between N22 billion and over N30 billion which is higher than the appropriation of a lot of ministries and departments today.
“It is mind-buggling to see the kind of money that would have just gone away to people if not because of this motion.
“We will have to ensure that the respective agencies, particularly CBN must comply strictly with these recommendations of the senate.
“I want to encourage our colleagues to ensure that in spite the kind of blackmail that we received in doing our work, we should follow the example that has been shown by these committees’’.
