FG Gives MDAs Deadline Of February 28 To Embrace The TSA

                       The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) yesterday gave all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government yet to embrace the Treasury Single Account (TSA) regime domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and regulated by the OAGF a deadline of February 28 to close all their revenue accounts maintained in different money deposit banks across the country and beyond and transfer same to the TSA.

The directive is in keeping with the promise on December 17, 2014 by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, that government would block all leakage as part of measures to rev up revenue to make up for the shortfall caused by fall in oil prices at the international market.

The Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Jonah Otunla, noted that the current fiscal challenge in the country had necessitated rapid moves to effect key reform by reducing costs and increasing revenue.

He said implementing the TSA and Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) would free up more funds for budget performance adding that all MDAs would virtually be brought on board the system before the end of the first quarter.

Director, Funds, OAGF, Mr. Mohammed Dikwa, said a treasury circular on e-Collection would be issued next week, adding that MDAs had up till February 28, 2015 to transfer any outstanding balance in their Revenue Bank Account to the consolidated revenue fund (CRF) and immediately close them.

Failing to comply, according to the directive released yesterday at a forum to sensitise MDAs desk officers in charge of electronic-collection, would attract very serious sanctions.

The AGF gave more insight why it has now become compulsory to compel every MDA to cue into the Federal Government’s new accounting model: “By April 2012, the GFMIS and the TSA were launched and there has been a tremendous impact on the system. At inception, 93 agencies got enrolled. But now, we have 551 agencies already enrolled. But we are yet to realize the full potentials of the reforms because we still have big time spenders, MDAs, such as the National Assembly and the Armed Forces that have been reluctant to key into the system. The implication is that a substantial amount of our resources are still lying fallow in commercial banks accounts when we need much of it to execute budgetary plans, forcing the government to go a borrowing.

Though there are fears that the commencement of the TSA and e-collection system could dispossess commercial banks of huge undisclosed amount funds.

Otunla said, “It is very difficult to predict how much money will leave the commercial banks, we are perfecting a system of collection, we are not perfecting a system of depriving commercial banks income. So we just want to make revenue collection a little bit more efficient but in the process, it might influence the inflow to the commercial banks but I cannot say with degree of certainty to what extent what would be the proportion of funds that would leave the commercial banks-and that’s why the central bank is playing a pivotal role.”

“The implementation of e-Collections system is expected to among other things, facilitate the enthronement of a new regime of centralised, transparent and accountable Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) management system; improve funds availability for funding of government developmental projects and budget; plug loopholes in government revenue and collection management; remove delay in remittance of revenue and other collections by MDAs and bank as well as reduce need for government to borrow when idle funds exist in banks.”