Reps must see to audit of TSA account

President Muhammadu Buhari rode into power promising sweeping change. A good number of those who didn’t vote the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Goodluck Jonathan, on March 13 2015, felt they took a stand against unbridled corruption. Leading to the election, the common chant was that 16 years of the PDP was characterised by a culture of impunity and an austere Buhari who was dubbed Mai Gaskiya (honest man) would clear the Augean Stable as well as completely wash government of grime, a compelling task Jonathan seemed totally unable to carry out.

Just like Hercules was asked to clear King Augean’s filthy stables, President Buhari had a mandate from Nigerians to reduce corruption, especially in government, to the barest minimum.  Some have argued that the Buhari administration, even if it still struggles with finding a winning formula for the economy and convincing the public that it has defeated Boko Haram, the anti-corruption war is being fought  gallantly.

Persons, hitherto considered sacred cows such as the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd) are facing trial, this is aside from the discoveries of caches of cash  by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) such as the  $43.4 million  found in Osborne Towers, later claimed by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the $9.8 million found in a decrepit farm also claimed by former Group Managing Director of  NNPC, Andrew Yakubu.

Away from picking up yesterday’s big men and women for corruption, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) more than any policy, exemplified Federal Government’s boldness in confronting corruption. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the TSA account was held aloft, like Moses did the bronze serpent in Numbers 21:9. The TSA account which the current administration fully introduced in contrast to the years of dillydallying by the Jonathan administration , which first muted the idea, was presented like the antidote to the corruption poison. And this is why it is disgraceful and highly disappointing to hear that the account hadn’t been audited in two years.

It is quite discomfiting that the much touted integrated structure of accounting for 217 government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), which is supposed to ensure for transparency and accountability in fund management, hasn’t been audited, not even once in two years. This much  the Auditor General of the Federation  (AGF) Anthony Ayine recently  told members of the Abubakar Nuhu-led, House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the administration of  the TSA account since inception in August  2015 to November 2016.  Members of the committee were taken aback, when Ayine confessed that his office has not conducted any form of auditing on the TSA. As lawmakers took in the information that a performance audit of the Treasury Single Account hadn’t been done after two years of operation, Ayine further disclosed that he also is not aware of transfers made into the account. He submitted that it was technically wrong and an ‘omission’ on the part of the OAGF not to have audited the account.

“For TSA, we have not actually carried out performance audit directly. After my review, I asked why there was no audit of the TSA and was told it was an ongoing programme. But I knew, that there’s need to carry it (audit) out. Not carrying it out was an omission and it was wrong because circle of audit is for preceding year and we have had two (years) for TSA now. Since I noticed that no performance audit was done, I gave the directive that it should be carried out three weeks ago”, Ayine said.

It wouldn’t be so great to cut Ayine some slack because he told the committee, that the report of the audit will be ready between three to seven  months.  Gladly, the committee mandated him to make it available by the first week of November as one would have thought the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation with the scrutiny from the House would deplore its resources to quickly audit the TSA.   

The problem with the TSA, like many other interventions by government basically, has to do with those in-charge of  key interventions, concerning themselves more with showing- off, the little successes of such policies, rather than concentrate on the less glamorous aspect of fine tuning crucial details such as auditing the TSA. I am a layman  when it comes to accounting and auditing, however, I would have thought that a rigorous review of the TSA would be routine in Ayine’s department. Sadly, the opposite has been the case, with 24 months speeding by and not a single examination of this account which means a lot to Nigerians. Never mind the many reports on the difficulty of paying into the TSA account through the Remitta  payment portal, like I experienced weeks back. Instead of presenting a critical appraisal to the public, we have over time been regaled with the immense value TSA has added to the economy. This is as we have been inundated with staggering figures supposedly saved with the introduction of this policy.  The Accountant General of the Federation (AGF),  Ahmed Idris in a recent interview with Economic Confidential, said the Federal Government saves four billion monthly by operating the TSA, totaling about N48 billion yearly. Of course, no one in government is admitting that there are issues with the TSA, like the investigation by the House has clearly shown. Even when facing members of the National Assembly,  Idris, who was represented at the hearing  by the adhoc committee  by the Director (Funds), Alexander Adeyemi, had nothing but praise for the TSA, saying, the policy is a plus to the economy.  He said the platform has provided an opportunity to monitor movement of money to and from MDAs.

He  said the TSA reduced the constant pressure on the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), that was always in deficit and had to be financed with N4 billion overdrawn every month. The Accountant General, who didn’t mention the job losses that has occurred with the introduction of TSA, also said that contrary to suggestions in certain quarters, the TSA has no idle funds and neither was it affecting the economic growth adversely.  He told lawmaker s that government has given a directive, that funds in the TSA be invested to generate more finds. Yet, it seems auditing this account isn’t a priority even if it’s just to anaylse how the re-investments of funds would perform, returns on investments to be specific. 

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