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FEDERAL Government agencies rake in an average of N13 billion daily from the Treasury Single Account (TSA), Acting President Yemi Osinbajo said yesterday. Represented by the Special Adviser, Economic Matters to the President, Office of the Vice President, Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu, at a two-day retreat to review TSA implementation in Abuja, said there was now improved visibility of government revenues and cash flows.

“Now the position is clear; with an average of N13 billion accruing to all government agencies every single working day. This improves decision making and engenders efficiency in public financial management,” he said.

Another key outcome of the implementation of TSA he said has been the elimination of the revenue and expenditure float. Before TSA, it took an average of 28 days to access cash after the revenue has been collected through commercial banks and about 21 days for MDAs to access their budgetary allocations after release from Treasury. These timing differences which adversely affected budget implementation have now been eliminated, he added.

The Acting President was happy that the implementation of TSA has led to significant removal of ways and means financing costs that were depleting resources available for service delivery through budget implementation.

With these developments, Osinbajo said “the economy is set to reap the full benefits of blocking the leakages in revenue collection that hitherto fuelled corruption and impaired growth.”

This improved transparency, he said, now “discourages would-be offenders as information technology solutions deployed as a result of TSA implementation, means that there are no more hiding places.’’

He said: There is more to be done to harness the benefits of TSA implementation. For instance, the reforms we have started with regard to budget preparation must continue to completion. Ideally, the budget should be comprehensive and transparent and as much as possible enacted before the beginning of the financial year.

“Since most of the cash resources moved into TSA are extra budgetary harvesting, the fruits of TSA implementation would entail that public resources be allocated in a manner that would enable total flexibility of cash.”

In her address, the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun said as at February 10, the total inflow of funds through the mop-up and direct debits by CBN into the TSA amounted to N5.244 trillion. Adeosun, who was represented by the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), said: “The implementation of TSA has brought about considerable gains to the federal government and to the Nigerian economy.” – The Nation

—  Feb 15, 2017 @ 15:45 GMT

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