Political Clash Over Treasury Single Account Payment Provider
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has demanded the immediate suspension of Xpress Payment Solutions Limited's appointment as a collecting agent under Nigeria's Treasury Single Account framework. The presidential candidate in the 2023 elections described the engagement as a dangerous attempt to nationalize what he called the "Alpha Beta revenue cartel model."
FIRS Defends Multi-Provider Framework
The Federal Inland Revenue Service has strongly dismissed Atiku's allegations, labeling them as "incorrect, misleading and risk unnecessarily politicising a purely administrative and technical process." In a statement signed by Arabinrin Atoyebi, Technical Assistant to the Executive Chairman on Broadcast Media, the revenue agency clarified that it operates a multi-channel, multi-payment service provider collection framework rather than an exclusive arrangement.
According to FIRS, the current TSA framework includes several established platforms: Quickteller, Remita, Etranzact, Flutterwave and XpressPay. The agency emphasized that these payment service providers are not collection agents and do not earn processing fees per payment or percentage of revenues.
"Crucially, all revenues collected through these channels go directly into the Federation Account, without diversion, intermediaries or private control. No PSSP has access to, or custody of, government funds," the statement clarified.
Atiku's Allegations of Revenue Cartelization
In a statement posted on his X account on Sunday, November 24, 2025, the former vice president accused the Federal Government of introducing the policy by stealth without proper consultation, stakeholder engagement, or National Assembly oversight.
"The Federal Government must come clean with Nigerians," Atiku stated. "The quiet appointment of Xpress Payments Solutions Limited as a new TSA collecting agent is not an administrative decision; it is a dangerous resurrection of the Alpha Beta revenue cartel that dominated Lagos State during and after the Tinubu years."
He alleged that this model creates "a private toll gate around public revenue" and funnels state funds into the hands of politically connected monopolies. The former vice president questioned why the appointment was "rushed and smuggled into the public space" without proper oversight during a period of national mourning over insecurity-related deaths.
FIRS Outlines Framework Benefits
The revenue service outlined four key features of its TSA collection framework:
- Opening up the scheme to multiple payment service providers to eliminate single-provider dominance
- Improving efficiency through streamlined monitoring and reporting
- Creating jobs and expanding market opportunities within the financial technology sector
- Maintaining a transparent onboarding process that ensures fairness and equal opportunity
FIRS defended the ongoing national tax reform as "a cornerstone of Nigeria's economic modernisation" grounded in transparency, efficiency and broad stakeholder engagement. The agency urged Atiku and other political actors to refrain from mischaracterizing routine administrative processes for political gain.
Atiku's Five Demands
The former vice president laid out five specific demands in his statement:
- Immediate suspension of the Xpress Payments appointment pending a public inquiry
- Full disclosure of contractual terms, beneficiaries, fee structures and selection criteria
- Comprehensive audit of TSA operations to prevent privatization of revenue collection
- Legal framework prohibiting insertion of private proxies into core government revenue systems
- National security priority shift recognizing the need for transparent governance during crises
"Nigeria's revenues are not political spoils. They are the lifeblood of our national survival, especially at a time when insecurity is tearing communities apart," Atiku emphasized, urging the government to abandon what he described as "Lagos-style revenue cartelization."
The FIRS had recently appointed Xpress Payment Solutions as a collecting agent under the TSA framework, enabling taxpayers on the FIRS TaxPro Max platform to remit statutory payments including company income tax, value-added tax and withholding tax through the company's channels.
