Former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has accused President Bola Tinubu of creating a private Tollgate around public revenue, with the appointment of Xpress Payments Solutions Limited as a new Treasury Single Account (TSA) collecting agent.
Atiku in a statement on Sunday, queried the rational behind moving Nigeria from a republic to a private holding company controlled by a small circle of vested interests, and said it is a resurrection of the Alpha Beta revenue cartel that dominated Lagos State during and after the Tinubu years.
He argued that to introduce such a policy in the middle of a national tragedy and the deepening insecurity crisis, is not only insensitive, but a deliberate act of governance by stealth.
“When a nation is grieving, leadership should show empathy and focus on securing lives, not on expanding private revenue pipelines,” Atiku stated.
The former vice president said the appointment raised some fundamental questions, and wondered why was the appointment rushed and smuggled into the public space without consultation, stakeholder engagement, or National Assembly oversight.
He also demanded to know the value Xpress Payments would add that existing TSA channels do not already provide.
According to him, the appointment is not a reform but “state capture masquerading as digital innovation.”
Atiku told President Tinubu that Nigeria does not need more middlemen between her citizens and their government in revenue collection, but greater transparency, stronger institutions, and a tax system free from political capture.
He called for immediate suspension of the Xpress Payments appointment pending a public inquiry, as well as full disclosure of the contractual terms, beneficiaries, fee structures, and selection criteria.
The former vice president further to demand for a comprehensive audit of TSA operations to prevent the creeping privatisation of revenue collection, and “a legal framework, not executive shortcuts, that prohibits the insertion of private proxies into core government revenue systems.”
According to Atiku, 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, he added, and advised the Tinubu government to abandon “this Lagos-style revenue cartelisation and return to the path of transparency, constitutionalism, and public accountability.”
