To ensure seamless revenue collection in the country, the federal government has ditched REMITA for a new payment platform known as the Treasury Management and Revenue Assurance System (TMRAS).
TMRAS was created to streamline and manage federal revenue collections and payments across ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), including those benefiting from donor funds, trust funds, social security funds, and special funds.
This new system aligns with the commitment of the government to achieve effective treasury management, revenue assurance, and improved budget performance of all MDAs, including Federal Government-Owned Enterprises.
A report by Punch disclosed that the new platform would be launched today, Tuesday, March 4, 2025.
It said a memo from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AOGF), dated February 28, 2025, confirmed this development.
The notice revealed that the new platform would be launched in two phases, with the first to cover payments and collections for the Naira component only.
It will also enable the OAGF and MDAs to generate bank statements, track balances, and activate automatic deduction and remittance of taxes associated with vendor and contractor payments, including VAT, Withholding Tax, and Stamp Duty.
The second phase, expected to commence on June 1, 2025, will cover collections and payments involving foreign exchange and integration with MDA Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, with automatic deduction of 50 per cent of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from federal government agencies and parastatals to remain in effect.
“The system would go live on March 4, 2025, as it will be deployed in two phases.
“This phase shall also cover activation of the budget module for MDAs not in the national budget and other non-budgetary financial activities to enforce budget control.
“The split will be managed through the front-end of the TMRAS. The system is designed to automatically split IGR to ensure immediate remittance of the split to both the federal government’s account and the dedicated accounts of the respective MDA.
“Additionally, the system generates and provides detailed reports to both the OAGF and the MDA for transparency and accountability,” the memo stated.
It added that all extra-budgetary payments, including those from Special Accounts, will now be processed exclusively through TMRAS.
“This measure is aimed at completely eliminating the issuance of manual mandates to further enhance transparency, accountability, and efficient management of public funds,” the memo stated.
Additionally, only CBN-licensed Payment Solution Service Providers approved by the OAGF will be permitted to collect government revenue.
“MDAs are advised to direct all PSSPs currently collecting on their behalf to connect with the official CBN-payment gateway, for instant coordination of government collections on the platform. The process of profiling PSSPs shall commence immediately, and approved PSSPs by the Treasury shall be certificated and listed on the TMRAS for collections.”
To ensure a smooth transition, REMITA will continue running concurrently with TMRAS from March 4 to May 4, 2025.
“After this transition period, all MDAs would have stabilised on the new platform and will be expected to initiate their payments only on TMRAS,” it added.