SystemSpecs


SystemSpecs is the foremost provider of innovative Payment and Human Capital Management solutions and services. It is based in Lagos, Nigeria.

History

SystemSpecs was founded in 1991 by John Obaro. It was then more like a business to business company selling software to organisations. SystemSpecs started as a 5-man partner agent and Value added reseller for SunSystems, an accounting package developed by Systems Union, UK,.
The indigenous company developed HumanManager, a payroll Human Resource Management and goal management software package. This was developed with object-oriented COBOL. Media reports indicates that it enjoyed wide market acceptability with over 200 organizations across Africa as at 2004. TheSOFTtribe of Ghana signed a partnership deal with SystemSpecs in 2006 to provide 'HumanManager' for the Ghanaian market. The agreement authorized TheSOFTtribe to become Ghanaian partner of SystemSpecs for marketing, deployment and professional support of HumanManager. HumanManager went on to become "well established within the sub-regional ICT market." HumanManager was described by the Nigerian media as "Nigerian's most successful software yet" when SystemSpecs launched HumanManager 4.0 in December 2002. The solution passed "a world class automated Quality Assurance test" in 2004.
Infor FMS SunSystems and Infor PM are other SystemSpecs products. SystemSpecs recorded another major breakthrough in software development with the creation of the financial remittance software called Remita.

HumanManager

Developed by SystemSpecs, HumanManager is an intuitive, innovative and easy-to-use Human Capital Management Solution for organisations of all sizes and structures across Africa.
The solution combines prosaic and innovative features such as payroll management, pensions, employee management, training and self-service among others. The functionality of HumanManager prompted its adoption across Africa, into such countries as Benin Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, to name but a few.

Remita

Remita is the e-payments and e-collections platform developed by SystemSpecs Limited. Remita, a Central Bank of Nigeria licensed platform, is developed in Nigeria and helps organisations and individuals receive and make payments. The software, which has become the flagship creation of the company, is used by the Central Bank of Nigeria for payment and collections of funds on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria for the treasury single account. It is also used by all 22 commercial banks and over 400 micro finance banks in Nigeria. Through TSA, the Nigerian government was reported to have saved "trillions of naira usually lost to corruption because of the opaque nature of government accounting." The Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, revealed that 5.24 trillion naira has been realised as inflows into the TSA account following the mopping-up and direct debits of accounts of the CBN. He had earlier declared at the International Zonal Conference that the Federal Government of Nigeria had recorded 3 trillion naira inflows into the TSA as at the first quarter of 2016 from Ministries, Departments and Agencies numbering up to 976. SystemSpecs released the Remita Mobile Application in March 2017.

Paylink

Paylink is SystemSpecs’ recently released payment solution for individuals, businesses and NGOs. The solution enables users to receive payments easily by simply sharing a link with their payers via social media, email, WhatsApp, or other preferred channels, and is fast gaining acceptance among merchants across Africa as a fast, affordable and reliable platform for funds collection, especially for semi-formal businesses.

The Treasury Single Account Controversy

A Nigerian senator, Dino Melaye had claimed that the appointment of Remita, which he erroneously described as "an e-collection agent", was a violation of section 162 of the Nigerian Constitution. He claimed that the constitution only recognised a banking institution to be the collector of government funds, and that Remita was not a bank. The senator said the one per cent commission charged by SystemSpecs for all revenues collected on behalf of the government from the various ministries, departments and agencies must be returned to the account of the Central Bank of Nigeria. He estimated the amount of commission collected by SystemSpecs to be twenty-five billion naira.
In a letter titled “Commencement of Federal Government independent revenue collection under the Treasury Single Account initiative” addressed to the press, the Central Bank of Nigeria refuted the senator's claims, describing them as "misleading". Nonetheless, SystemSpecs, as a "business decision" speedily obeyed CBN's directive that all the revenues made so far be returned pending the issue would be resolved. The Nigerian Senate consequently ordered its committee on finance and public accounts to "commence an investigation into the use of Remita since the inception of the TSA policy.
Founder and Managing Director of SystemSpecs, developers of the Remita application, John Obaro, refuted claims that company pocketed 25 billion Naira. Obaro explained that the one per cent commission was negotiated prior to the signing of the contract; and the one per cent commission was shared by SystemSpecs, participating commercial banks and the Central Bank of Nigeria in the ratio of 50:40:10 respectively. PremiumTimes, an online news platform, released a report titled 'Full details of TSA: Dino Melaye misled Nigerian Senate on N25 billion claim' which cited holes in the senator's claims and allegations.
The Joint Senate investigative committee also absolved SystemSpecs of any wrongdoing as “the committee could not ascertain the deduction/collection of twenty-five billion Naira by SystemSpecs as 1% fee charged for the use of its Remita platform within the period under investigation.”.

Honours and awards