the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance, and other Financial Institutions has started a probe of the SystemSpecs Limited with a view to breaking its monopoly over the Treasury Single Account of the Federal Government.

The Chairman of the Senate panel, Uba Sani, has already summoned the management of the firm to appear before his committee on Tuesday, with relevant documents, especially its audited accounts.

The letter of invitation to the firm obtained by our correspondent on Friday explained that the committee had been inundated with series of petitions.

It explained that the petitioners had expressed fears that the continued monopoly of the TSA by the firm, which is using the Remita platform, posed great security risks to the nation’s economy.

The letter, dated 18 November 2019, enumerated six dangerous risks the nation could be exposed to, if the monopoly of SystemSpecs over the TSA was not immediately checked.

The correspondence read, “The Federal Government Treasury Single Account initiative could not have been more realisable without an e-payment solution.

“SystemSpecs e-payment platform, Remita, was selected to enable the realisation of the TSA initiative.

“Nonetheless, we have been challenged with numerous petitions from different parties concerned about the imminent risks and possible perils that could bedevil and devastate the revenue collection systems of the government and cause irreparable damage.

“This committee has therefore carried out a review of these distress signals and we are largely alarmed at the gravity of these dangers.

“The dependency on Remita has flared up critical coercions that are of great concern to this administration.”

The letter identified the six threats to the TSA, as currently structured to include single operator risk, political risk, economic risk, market risk, service risk and operational/technical risk.

The letter further read, “The Remita platform enjoys a monopoly that creates an unhealthy environment for competition with other licensed FinTech companies.

“The current monopoly erodes the guarantee, trust and confidence local and international agencies that partner the government, have in the transparency and accounting reporting structure of government earnings and spending.

“This holds especially as Remita is privately owned and there is a need for a level playing field and accountability.

“It is established that SystemSpecs has a robust management team with well-structured ownership.

“However, there is always the felt need to constantly unveil this structure to ascertain and demean any risks that are usually associated with private firms. This committee is concerned with continuity.

“To accurately have a superior understanding on SystemSpecs’ position in a potential N20tn economy, kindly provide the following: audited accounts from 2015 with detailed collection and remittance reports for all MDAs for the past four years; any other relevant reports to support the renewal of your contract.”

But SystemSpecs in its response through a letter signed by its Managing Director /Chief Executive Officer, John Tata, allayed the fears of the Senate over the issues raised against the firm’s monopoly.

In the 11-page letter also obtained on Friday, the company said its sole management of the nation’s TSA did not pose any threat or risk whatsoever to the Nigerian economy.