Revisiting the TSA’s gains…

Chuka Amadi

In a recent report published by a national daily, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy was listed among the 11 key reforms that block corruption in the Nigerian civil service. It was one of the initiatives credited with saving the government billions of naira monthly and promoting service efficiency. The report quotes Professor Badayi M. Sani of Bayero University saying the 11 reforms stand a good chance to outlast the current administration by instilling a culture of accountability in the nation’s public sector. This is impressive and signals a new dawn in the administration of public funds and accountability.

So much has already been said and written about the TSA, but its inclusion on this list is significant, given the amount of flak the policy has taken since implementation by the current administration in September 2015.

Whatever the case, no policy can wear a bad label for returning over N7 trillion to the country’s coffers by the close of March this year like the TSA has done. While making the announcement, Accountant General of the Federation Ahmed Idris clarified that the figures recorded so far represent monies belonging to different Ministries, Departments and Agencies(MDAs) viewable as one balance, but not meant for spending or borrowing to fund budget deficits like many argue. This is instructive and puts to rest the submission that the TSA is a fund where monies are ‘trapped’ while the nation languishes needlessly.

If we are still experiencing pockets of financial impropriety gulping trillions of Naira 2 years after the adoption of the policy, one begins to wonder how bad the situation would have been if there was no such policy to start with. Take the Senate, for instance, where the Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff is currently probing a N30 trillion customs tax evasion. This probe has such high-ranking government functionaries and captains of industry such as CBN Governor Godwin Emefelie, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun and the managing directors of all commercial banks, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigerian Customs Service being invited to explain their knowledge of this gross financial impropriety and how further revenue leakages can be plugged going forward. It is quite commendable that none of these statistics on revenue were accurately represented until the adoption of the TSA.

If not for the TSA, I am sure the rot in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) would not have been unearthed. For some strange reason, executives of the NHIS took up arms against the inclusion of the scheme in the TSA last year amid claims that it stifles the liquidity of funds meant for the healthcare of enrolees. Their passionate appeal seemed altruistic to all who cared to listen. But some months down the line, investigations have revealed that former Executive Secretary of the NHIS Dr. Femi Thomas and acting Executive Secretary Mr. Olufemi Akingbade have unilaterally made payments running into billions of Naira to dubious HMOs which were not remitted to hospitals where enrolees were supposed to get treatment. At this point, there are claims that several of these HMOs are owned by former Senate Presidents David Mark and Anyim Pius Anyim. If the TSA identifies cases of high-wire fraud such as this, I would rather we vote for it rather than against it to keep top government functionaries in check.

Lest we forget, a financial crisis is currently rocking Ladoke Akintola University of Technology(LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, whose top management has been found to operate 97 different bank accounts and HMOs. The institution was said to have received a cumulative N13.7 billion from owner states in the last 5 years which it failed to remit into the TSA in compliance with policy. The benefits of this tracking mechanism are two-fold. First, it updates the government on the actual state of its finances at any point in time. Second, defaulters are quickly identified and probed, while a steady pipeline of funds into the Treasury is maintained after years of mismanagement and impunity.

Arguments to the contrary will always abound, but the TSA has lots of merits that we should not overlook. Its successful implementation by the current administration is meant to be celebrated in a society where people-oriented policies hardly see the light of day. In fact, we should at this point consider exporting the policy to less fortunate African nations were mismanagement of public funds holds sway without any end in sight. And just for our education, Nigeria is not the only African country that has implemented the policy. Rwanda adopted a zero-balance drawing system in 2005 which mandates its MDAs to maintain accounts in the National Bank of Rwanda. The policy stipulates that all ministries and budget agencies begin a new fiscal year with zero cash balance on their accounts. Uganda did same in 2013 to ensure the efficient and cost-effective cash management of its Consolidated Fund. In 2015, Kenya announced its proposed adoption of a TSA policy in reaction to the loss of billions of dollars in its public system. Its earlier Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) had proved ineffective in waging and winning this war.

Digitalised governance is the future, and the TSA includes Nigeria in the comity of nations that appreciate this trend and are prepared for it. There have been several changes in the payment system since the policy was adopted that have increased process efficiency and saved productive man-hours for busy individuals and groups. These days, commercial and microfinance banks are not the only avenues through which customers can make payment to the government. Alternative channels abound such as POS terminals, debit/credit cards, online banking sites and digital wallets, among others. Long queues in banking halls for taxes, levies and subventions are much reduced, leaving room for customers to deploy their productive energies elsewhere. Distance is no longer a barrier to payment because government can receive funds from any part of the country, and pay salaries without uploading salary schedules from varying software. The MDAs, on their part, make less deals with physical cash and contractors are paid for their services much faster due to the new system.

The Nigerian dream is achievable if only we can make sacrifices today for the beautiful tomorrow we envision. To be sure, the anti-TSA elements will stop at nothing to vilify the policy for their own selfish interests. Recognising this, we must continue to counter their offensive until probity returns to the administration of public funds meant for our welfare and generations still to come.

Amadi is an Enugu-based public affairs analyst

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