The federal
government has recorded over N7tr in the Treasury Single Account (TSA) at the
end of March, Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Ahmed Idris has
revealed.
This report
was made available by the PRNigeria news platform, an agency that handles
publicity for the federal government and all its agencies.
In an
interview with the Economic Confidential in Abuja, Mr Idris further said the
amount represents monies belonging to different Ministries, Departments and
Agencies(MDAs) put in portal in such a way that government can view the entire
balance as one.
“When we say
we have over N5 trillion in TSA, it does not mean free funds for spending. No!
These monies belong to ministries, departments and agencies put in a portal in
such a way that you can view the entire balance as one.
“The
movement is now over N7 trillion. But as I explained earlier, these are not
free money. People should not be thinking of why is government borrowing to
fund budget. These are budgeted monies for MDAs for projects and developments,”
he said.
He said that
the federal government through the implementation of the TSA has saved
additional N4 billion monthly which could have been held by banks, noting that
a total collapse of government activities would have occurred were it not that
TSA was in place.
“But let me
also make a strong and important point. If not because TSA is in place and now
that the recession is here, only God knows what would have happened. A monthly
drain of over N4 billion and yet no revenue coming in and leakages continued.
It could have been a disaster. It was government’s foresightedness and focus
even as TSA was in place before the recession. And that is why we are floating
and not sinking, and we will not sink God willing,” he said.
“For instance,
why would one university have over one hundred and twenty bank accounts, and
some of them even hidden and missing and carrying huge balances. We also
discovered that there are costs associated with keeping these multiple bank
accounts. Every month the government incurs over N4 billion in maintaining
these accounts! Yet Government is borrowing its own money. And to stop
government from borrowing its money and for the fact that there was no
commensurate returns on such monies, it was double tragedy! This is like a
sword with two sides that can cut from any of the sides. Sanity was brought
with the introduction of TSA.”
Speaking on
the transparency in the disbursement of federation account monthly, the AGF
noted that transparency and openness are key to the present administration,
adding that It is a desire to institute discipline, good governance and trust.
The government cannot be trusted if it says one thing and does another.
“The meager
revenue that has been accruing is being judiciously used and there is fiscal
discipline in management of public resources. Let me give you an example in the
previous administration. There was a time state government kicked against
savings. Now because what they know and being practiced by government of the
day, they have decided to imbibe the culture of savings”.
(Sun)
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