House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts Committee has given a 60-day ultimatum to the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, and the Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, to automate foreign currency collection in foreign missions.

The committee, chaired by Bamidele Salam, gave the directive, yesterday, during its hearing on the status of Automation of Foreign Currency Collection in Nigeria’s foreign missions.

The automation is to enable the Federal Government to have adequate and total control over the revenue generated in foreign currency and ascertain inflow from foreign missions to enthrone accountability and transparency.

Madein noted that Files Solutions Limited was awarded a contract for the automation at the contract sum of N83.6m on April 28 2021 for five years in addition to the commission of one to five per cent depending on the amount the company could collect.

She said 90 per cent, which totalled N75.2m of the payment had been paid to the contractor.

The Accountant General said the terms of the contract with the contractor were to ensure that the collection of revenue from all Nigerian foreign missions was online in real-time, as well as a multi-currency conversion web portal and multi-language web portal.

A member of the committee, Timehin Adelegbe, had said there was a lack of transparency in foreign revenue collection, which the automation of foreign currency collection would correct.