Cost of operating TSA is not sustainable but….Buhari’s minister

Nigeria’s Finance minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, on Tuesday says the cost of operating the treasury single account (TSA) centrally, is not sustainable.

Describing the TSA as an important reform of the current administration, she maintained that the policy had come to stay.

The minister said government was working to separate agencies which should bear the cost and the ones that government should be responsible for.

Adeosun, who spok at a retreat in Abuja, added that efforts were in place to improve the implementation and functionality of the TSA “because of its huge benefits”.

“One of the challenges that we have is who should bear the cost of the TSA? Currently, it is being borne centrally, but that is not sustainable,” she said.

“We are now working on how to stratify the various agencies. Those who should bear their own costs and costs that should be borne by the government. This will be rolled out in this year.

“There are still funds in commercial banks and we have written to the banks, giving them a window to come forward. Where in doubt, they have been asked to consult us.

“We also have an audit team that has started the process of checking the completeness of monies that were transferred into the TSA and already, they have been able to recover a significant amount of money.

“The policy allows us to manage our treasury functions with far more accuracy than what we had in the past. There is still a long way to go but overall, we are very satisfied with the progress we have made and we look forward to it being extended and utilised far more as the year goes on.”