Proffessor of Accounting at the Michael
Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, Abia State, Michah
Chukwuemeka Okafor, has said that implementation of TSA in Nigeria would
stop banks from profiteering on free money, which was dangerous to the
economy of the country.
The university lecturer further said
that it would result in fundamental changes in the country’s economy and
lead to better fiscal and monetary policy coordination, advising that
Nigeria stood to benefit greatly on the full and holistic implementation
of TSA in the country as outlined in the IMF 2010.
Prof Okafor, a fellow of the Institute
of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, said this in a paper titled Full
Implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA) in Nigeria: Implications
on the he presented at a public lecture at the Evangel University at
Okpoto, Ebonyi State.
He said, “TSA will lead to better fiscal
and monetary policy coordination, as better transparency is achieved
through reconciliation of fiscal and banking data, which in turn
improves the quality of fiscal information and management that will
benefit and improve the country’s economy generally, eventually”.
In the banking sector, Prof Okafor said
that banks’ profiteering on free money was dangerous to Nigeria’s
economic growth; hence the TSA would make the banks to return to real
banking. He teased the Nigerian banking sector, saying “Nigerian banks
claim to be the best on the continent and have received numerous awards,
some are ranked among the 1000 banks globally, yet our bankers are
worried by the absence of free government funds, which makes them look
suspect on their activities.”
According to the professor of
Accounting, implementation of TSA in Nigeria would basically result to
fundamental changes in the economy and would help government to unify
banking arrangements, guarantee oversight of cash resources, promote
efficiency, transparency and accountability in government payments,
adding that it would ensure that government has access to funds when
needed and reduce overall cost of government borrowing.
Expecting that the new reform initiative
of implementing Treasury Single Account (TSA) would restore sanity and
prudence in management of financial resources in this country, Prof
Okafor considered TSA as a prerequisite for modern cash management and
as an effective tool for the ministry of finance/treasury to establish
oversight and centralised control over government’s cash resources,
bringing about avoidance of borrowing and paying additional interest
charges to finance the expenditures of some agencies while other
agencies keep idle balances in their bank accounts.
He outlined about nine benefits of TSA,
among which are guarantee of timely information on government cash
resources as complete updated balances will be available daily; better
appropriation control as TSA allows the Ministry of Finance to have full
control over budget allocations and strengthens the authority of the
budget appropriation; improvement on the operational control during
budget execution in an efficient, transparent and reliable manner;
ensuring efficient cash management, such as regular monitoring of
government cash balances; supports efficient payment mechanisms because
there is no ambiguity as to the volume or the location of the government
funds, and makes it possible to monitor payment mechanisms.
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