BREAKING NEWS, Business
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Ahmed Idris, accountant general of the federation says that no government ministries, departments and agencies including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is exempted from the Treasury Single Account exercise
| By Anayo Ezugwu | Oct 5, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT |
THE federal government has refuted media reports that it had exempted the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC and 12 other government ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, from the Treasury Single Account, TSA. Ahmed Idris, accountant-general of the Federation, said contrary to media reports said the directive from the federal government had not excluded any of its agencies from the exercise.
Idris while giving an update on the exercise shortly after this month’s Federation Accountant Allocation Committee meeting said the process of compliance was slow at the beginning owing to what he described as teething problems. “The TSA is in place and there is a clear-cut directive from the government that all the MDAs without exception must comply. My office is working closely to enlist and enrol the MDAs so that they can be able to access and utilise their resources. This policy is to make all the MDAs to be effective and operational.
“We experienced some teething problems at inception, but they are easing off now. The deadline stands, and as of today (Tuesday), 600 MDAs out of 900 MDAs have so far complied. The accounts are still ongoing at the CBN and at the end we will know the number of MDAS that have complied,” he said.
But the announcement of the exemption which came from the same Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation described these agencies as profit-oriented government business entities that pay dividends to the federal government. It exempted MDAs include the NNPC, Power Holding Company of Nigeria, Bank of Industry, Nigeria Railway Corporation, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Bank of Agriculture, Niger Delta Power Holding Company /National Integrated Power Project, National Communication Satellite Limited, Galaxy Backbone Ltd, Ajaokuta Steel Company Ltd, Urban Development Bank, Nigerian Export-Import Bank and Transcorp Hilton Hotel.
The validation for this information comes through a circular from the AGF’s office to the director, CBN, Banking and Payments System Department, referenced FD/LP2015/C/ADC/20/1/ /DF dated September 14, 2015 and authored by M. K, Dikwa, for the accountant- general of the Federation, federal ministry of finance, funds department, Abuja. The circular titled ‘Approval to Exempt Some MDAs In line With the E-Collection Mop-Up Exercise’ reads in part “Approval is hereby granted to your bank to exempt the Accounts of thirteen (13) MDAs (Category 6) as listed below the mop-up in line with the e-Collection Circular No. HCFSF/428/S.1/120 dated 7th August 2015 as these are Profit Oriented Government Business entities that are to pay their dividends into the Treasury Single Accounts whenever they are declared.
“Please note that in line with the Presidential approval, the following as it relates to Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation NNPC as listed above (S/No.9) under Category 4 should also apply. That NAPIMS remains classified as an MDA that is funded from the Federation Account under Category 4 of the Circular, being the NNPC Business Unit responsible for the management of the Federation’s investment in the upstream activities and funded from direct proceeds of oil and gas revenue.
“That NNPC will continue to preserve the status with respect to NAPIMS Operations Account as well as Escrow Account for Third Party Financing in view of the Joint Venture (JV) Cash funding currently being experienced. That all other NNPC’s commercial/Business Entities as re-classified as ‘Profit-Oriented Public Corporations /Business Enterprises’ under Category 6 of the Circular which requires that only dividends from these entities be paid into the TSA.”
Although there are conflicting reports surrounding the exemption list, this has raised questions concerning the president’s possible change in directives when he made it clear the need for the policy to be adopted by all MDAs. One of the reasons was to improve accountability of revenues and enable proper monitoring of cash flow. The supposed exclusion of these entities undermines the main objectives of the policy.
The TSA scheme holds promises of discipline and high level of efficiency in MDA’s, but if there are exemptions of major agencies, the federal government is mandated to clarify its reasons for such action. Why should some agencies be excluded from complying with the open account policy while others are left to go through the heat? If these allegations are indeed true, they pose a setback on the government’s fight against corruption.
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