Ways Remita contributes to Nigeria’s economy

Remita is quite popular in the FinTech industry by all standards. But just in case it doesn’t ring any bells, it might interest you to know that the software has made enormous impact on the Nigerian economy in a relatively short time, and is giving us much global recognition as a cutting-edge indigenous financial technology.

In its September 2016 Report, global research firm McKinsey observed that digital payment platforms such as Remita are key to the growth of modern economies and empower individuals, businesses and governments to carry out financial transactions more cheaply and efficiently. It projects that by 2025, these platforms will boost the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of emerging economies by a whopping $3.7 trillion, and drive financial inclusion.

Remita is a little over a year old as the payment gateway adopted by the Federal Government for its Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy, but is already living up to McKinsey’s projections. So far, it has     made a huge impact on public finance in Nigeria by helping the government recover N4.3 trillion of its cash assets lying idle in Deposit Money Banks (DMBs).   

Here are 10 other things about Remita you probably didn’t know.

Remita is not TSA
Contrary to what you have heard, Remita is NOT the Treasury Single Account (TSA) which is the depository for all the funds generated by Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as taxes, levies, tariffs, etc. Rather, it is the payment gateway that facilitates the remittance of these funds into the TSA. So if you are a public servant and your salary, subvention or pension gets delayed, Remita is NOT to blame. It is only a software.

Remita is an e-Payment solution
Remita is a CBN-licensed solution that addresses the payment needs of individuals and organisations. Developed by FinTech giant SystemSpecs, it helps the public receive and make payments easily with ZERO activation fee as a plus.

You use Remita
You may have used Remita at some point without knowing. Remita is the payment gateway for Federal Government funds generated from levies, taxes and tariffs. If you have made one or more of these payments in the past one year, there is a good chance you have indirectly used Remita for your financial transactions, even if you don’t have the software.

Remita has HR functions
Remita is more than just a payment software. It also has HR and payroll functions which help businesses maintain a comprehensive, online employee personal and payroll data. With Remita, organisations can compute staff allowances, loans, pensions, taxes, overtime allowances and more without hassle.  What’s more, they can automate salary payments, send electronic payment notifications, pay slips and tax analysis slips to staff at the end of every pay run.

Remita is secure
Unlike other payment platforms that leave you guessing whether your transactions have been compromised, Remita is packed with advanced security features such as a combination of hard token, soft token, biometric token, proprietary authentication protocols, etc. With these and other features, you can literally make payments with your two eyes closed.  

You can pay government directly with Remita
With Remita, you can pay your taxes, levies and tariffs directly to the government without fear of missing deadlines and attracting surcharges that max out your account when you least expect. Holidays and weekends are no barriers to payment, nor do you have to waste valuable man-hours in banking halls or cyber cafes to get your payment done with Remita

Remita has won multiple awards
Remita is at the forefront of financial technology, as reflected in its functional features. Small wonder, then, that the software has won multiple awards for its distinctive user-friendly features in the saturated Nigerian FinTech industry.  In 2012, Remita was awarded the ‘Outstanding Public Service Product of the Year’ by Financial Technology Africa Magazine. It was recognised as the ‘Most Outstanding Software Solution at the NITMA awards in 2015. In April 2016, it was declared the ‘Most Efficient e-Revenue Service’ at the CBN Cashless Card Expo. The list is almost endless. But note that Remita emerged the ‘Best Software Solution of the Year’ at the Nigeria Telecoms Awards and ‘Pan-African Software Solution of the Year’ at the Titans of Tech awards earlier this year.

Remita processes $30 billion transactions annually
Remita currently serves over 1,000 merchants, billers, multinationals, SMEs and governments at various levels. It is also used by over 500 microfinance banks (MFBs) to meet the needs of Nigerians who cannot access commercial banking services.  So it’s not much of a stretch to understand why the software processes about $30billion worth of payment transactions on a yearly basis.

Remita has government approval  
Unlike other generic software in the market, you don’t have to be jittery using Remita for your financial transactions. After all, it is used by the Federal Government, corporates and high-net worth individuals to process financial transactions running into billions of Naira every year.       

Remita mobile will soon hit the market
Remita is currently web-based, but its mobile variant is set to hit the FinTech market soon. At the recent Gulf Technology Exhibition (GITEX) in Dubai, SystemSpecs Executive Director Deremi Atanda disclosed that the Remita mobile app will enable any individual or organisation to see in real-time account balances held across different banks on a single app, using the latest scan-to-pay and tap-to-pay technologies.