File photo, Nigeria’s driving license
The service charge on all transactions to be paid into treasury
single account (TSA) of the federal government will be borne by payers,
under the newly-announced model, TheCable reports.
This means the payment to enroll for the Joint Admissions and
Matriculation (JAMB) exams, to obtain a driver’s licence and other
government transactions has increased from November 1.
The new tariff regime was announced at a stakeholders’
sensitisation programme on TSA e-Collection charges which held in Abuja
recently.
According to a statement from the office of the accountant general
of the federation, organisers of the programme, the old regime led
government to incur a two-year debt burden that was to be paid to
technology service providers and deposit money banks.
In the new payment structure however, government as recipient will
no longer bear the charges on all transactions to the service providers.
“In line with the global best practices and amidst dwindling
revenues, the federal government has approved a new Treasury Single
Account tariff model which mandates that the service charge on payment
to its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) from November 1, 2018
would be borne by the payer,” the statement quoted Ahmed Idris, accountant general of the federation, as saying.
REMITA CONTROVERSY
Controversy has trailed the use of Remita, the payment software used by the federal government to execute the TSA.
Investigation revealed that some Nigerians, who have been paying
for government rendered services via Remita, have begun to complain
about extra charges, which are not reflected in the payment receipt.
For example, if a Nigerian student pays N1,000 for a JAMB result
printout, Remita charges N1,165.38, but a receipt for N1,000 is issued.
In response to an inquiry alleging irregularities in the use of
Remita to pay JAMB fees, the operators made reference to the new TSA
tariff regime where the service charge will be borne by payers.
“Processing fees chargeable on collections processed on Remita
in favour of all Federal Government Ministries, Departments Agencies and
other institutions were borne by the Federal Government,” the response
read.
“As directed by the Office of the Accountant General of the
Federal (OAGF), payers are now to bear TSA e-Collections fee, effective
November 01, 2018. “In compliance with this directive, processing fees
are now applied to all payments in favor of Federal Government Agencies
on the platform.”
Following the new tariff system by the office of the accountant
general of the federation, Nigerians should brace up to pay for more on
every TSA-driven transaction carried out with and MDA in the country.