- Pay SystemSpecs for Services Rendered, NCS Urges FG
The Nigeria Computer Society has advised the Federal government to fulfil its financial obligation to SystemSpecs for the use of Remita, software used by the Nigerian government to receive payments and monitor its accounts.
The President, NCS, Prof Adesola Aderounmu, made this appeal at a press conference in Lagos on Tuesday while berating the government for not giving due respect to indigenous technology firms.
Remita is a default payment gateway that facilitates the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Treasury Single Account and has been described by stakeholders in the public and private sector as impactful having saved over N40bn unaccounted funds monthly.
“Up till now, the FG has not been able to fulfil its obligation with regard to the services rendered to it by (SystemSpecs) through Remita software,” he said.
The NCS president said he had observed “a high level of disregard for contracts entered into with indigenous firms compared with the high level of respect accorded foreign counterparts.”
“When will indigenous ICT firms begin to be treated as equal with foreign counterparts and be accorded the level of respect they deserve?” he asked.
The NCS boss alleged that the Federal Government was not fully committed to the prioritising of local content development in the country as promised.
Aderounmu described the business environment as hostile, saying the government had little contribution to the achievements of indigenous companies.
He identified the National Identity Management System project in which Chams Consortium Limited won the concession as another example of the government’s negligence of local IT firms.
According to him, Chams Plc suffered huge financial losses and devaluation at the Nigerian Stock exchange due to the non-commitment of the government to the project.
Aderounmu called for urgent and decisive intervention to salvage Chams Plc’s position and allow the company to reach an amicable resolution with the National Identity Management Council.
Regarding Omatek, an IT company that has not repaid a loan of N5.81bn borrowed from the Bank of Industry, Aderoumi urged the FG to intervene in the matter and prevail on BoI to vacate court order on the sealing of Omatek factory.
He noted that the management of Omatek was willing to explore out-of-court settlement.
He added, “Under a conducive environment, CCL has indicated that it has the capacity and capability to enrol more than 50 million Nigerians annually and could, if well-empowered, issue the enrollees with National ID cards.”
