Audit N4.2 trillion TSA now

It was a shocking revelation at the National Assembly last week that, two years into its operation, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) has not been audited. The revelation was made by the Auditor General of the Federation (AuGF), Mr Anthony Ayine, while appearing before an Adhoc Committee of the House of Representatives.  Chaired by Rep […]

It was a shocking revelation at the National Assembly last week that, two years into its operation, the Treasury Single Account (TSA) has not been audited. The revelation was made by the Auditor General of the Federation (AuGF), Mr Anthony Ayine, while appearing before an Adhoc Committee of the House of Representatives.  Chaired by Rep Abubakar Nuhu, the committee was investigating the performance of the scheme in the past two years. The Auditor-General could not provide the figure of the exact amount in the account, since his office was yet to conduct performance audit on the scheme. The TSA was established in 2015 at the inception of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.  Mr Ayine describes the failure to audit the account as an “omission” by his office.

The TSA is for the purpose of linking all bank accounts of the various MDAs. It is under the supervision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Its primary utility is to ensure that with the linkage of all bank accounts of the government, all revenues and expenditures of MDAs would be effectively marshalled to reconcile with the government’s operations. The TSA was recommended by the World Bank for facilitating fiscal integrity for countries with fragmented financial systems, like those that feature a multiplicity of bank accounts operated haphazardly by MDAs.

Before its introduction, MDAs operated thousands of bank accounts, many of which were even strange to the authorities. So far, the TSA has facilitated their consolidation into a manageable number with stricter control of in-flow and out-flow of public funds from the treasury.  Already a total sum of N4.2 trillion is confirmed to have been transferred into the TSA by various MDAs.

 Against the backdrop of the avowed stance of the present administration on the fight against corruption, the lack of a proper audit of the TSA by the Office of the AuGF puts the policy on a shaky foundation. The Auditor-General’s argument that it was a mere omission is not acceptable. In the context of extant statutory audit procedures of the Office of the AuGF two years of non-audit of the TSA remains a crime. Granted that Ayine is new on the seat of AuGF, he should commence a house cleaning exercise with a view to ensuring that his staff live up to expectation. The Nigerian public service terrain is replete with instances of mind boggling sleaze, as evidenced by the numerous cases of open theft of public funds. The slack in the system seems to have affected the sense of responsibility of the staff to even a programme as sensitive as the TSA. The onus falls on Ayine to redeem the anomalous situation – grave as it is.

It is apparent that technology is central to the operation of TSA. We, therefore, call of the AuGF to train its staff on the current Information Technology skills needed to audit such a huge account. If necessary, the Office of the Auditor-General should headhunt for Nigerians with the necessary skills to carry out the kind of audit needed on the TSA.  We understand that an Audit Bill has been pending before the National Assembly since the dispensation of the Mr Samuel Ukura, but it is yet to be passed. The Bill is seeking autonomy for the Office of Auditor-General of the Federal, to provide it with a measure of administrative and financial independence needed in carrying out its activities. If the Bill would help provide the Office with the necessary powers to carry out such audit, the National Assembly should hasten its passage.

However, on TSA we ask that a forensic audit should be executed immediately to ensure that the country is not short-changed through any loopholes in the exercise. The House Committee should define a time-frame for Ayine to come up with a formal audit report of the TSA to enable the country keep track with its progress.