Only 18 of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja have fully complied with the Treasury Single Account (TSA) mandate of the federal government, it has been learnt.

A study conducted by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum Secretariat across the 36 states of the federation to determine the level of implementation of a centralised TSA in each state, revealed that not all the states have adopted the policy regime.

The TSA is a financial policy in use in several countries all over the world. It was introduced by the federal government in 2012 to consolidate all inflows from all agencies of government into a single account at the Central Bank of Nigeria. It however came into effect on August 11, 2015.

The apex bank had subsequently released Operational Guidelines for the use of TSA by state governments last year in accordance with its powers, as provided in the CBN Act 2007, Section 47, sub-section 2 (2d).

According to the CBN, the aim of the guidelines is to provide state governments with a clear framework to support their successful implementation of the TSA initiative.

This, it says, will be “based on standardised banking arrangements, operational processes and information technology infrastructure. The guidelines also provide that government agencies will not operate any bank account under any guise outside the purview and oversight of the treasury.

In addition, each state government is required to inform the CBN governor of its decision to introduce the TSA scheme, detailing the state’s preferred TSA model and its level of preparedness.

Besides, the CBN mandated state governors and Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to subsume their personal interests under the greater needs of their states and citizens just as it reckoned that the present insolvency of some states will be reduced if they adopt the TSA policy.

•Adapted from a report by The Nation.

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