FG Saves N45bn As TSA Hits N10trn Mark
BY COBHAM NSA, ABUJA – The Federal Government currently saves over N45 billion monthly as interests on Ways and Means paid before the advent of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy.
Also, about N50 billion revenue have so far been mopped up from funds hitherto lodged in commercial banks following full implementation of the TSA.
These impressive records are against the backdrop of more than N10 trillion already captured from 1,674 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) into the TSA’s kitty by government.
The figures were laid bare at the 2019 Peer Review Mechanism of Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in Abuja organised by Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HoCSF).
A presentation by the Director, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Mr Afolabi Ajayi, showed that the government has made tremendous progress with the TSA implementation
Mr Ajayi said from April 2007 when the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) flagged off to February 2018, “over N288 billion has been saved as a result of the difference between the amount government would have released to MDAs based on appropriation and actual amount released and paid through IPPIS since payment are made directly to beneficiaries account.”
He stated that since the inception of IPPIS till date, about 506 MDAs, with total staff strength of 344,625, are on the platform with the gross pay of N49,071,961,959.15k as at September,2018.
According to the ICT Director, since the introduction of IPPIS “many departments and agencies having realized that personnel cost was no longer coming to them for direct disbursement, have embarked on recruitment to utilize their approved manpower/personnel budget so much so that between September 2011 and now, many Nigerians have been employed in the IPPIS MDAs, thereby reducing unemployment in the country.”
Ayaji stated that the milestones achieved through TSA’s operations include: Elimination of cash handling costs; ability to determine consolidated Federal Government cash position; and Significant improvement on Federal Government liquidity position.
Others are: Improved revenue collection mechanism through e-collection; Oversight on government cash and better cash management capabilities; Reduction in money supply and cost of managing liquidity; 24/7 online collection and payment systems; and full implementation of foreign currency component of TSA.
Ajayi said government has also initiated the Asset Tracking Management Project (ATMP) to track, monitor and manage fixed assets of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), adding that the project is meant “to ensure efficient and effective utilization of financial resources in transparent accountable manner in the acquisition of capital assets and fulfil the requirements for fixed assets recognition and measurement in IPSAS accrual accounting system adopted by the FGN.”
He explained that ATMP is initiated to locate, label and register all fixed assets (property, plant and equipment) of the FGN; and revalue the registered assets using approved methods of revaluation and/or depreciation; determine from records all redundant, disposed and disposable assets
It also has the mandate to: Recommend assets to be disposed off, registered and relocated to other centres that need them; Internalize all processes and procedures for assets registration, tracking and management in the MDAs; and create a comprehensive real-time data base of all PPE to guide government in the efficient allocation and utilization of financial resources for capital investment.
