Buhari’s N8tr Hat-Trick! (3)

TSA AND BVN These two policies, even though not started under Buhari, but being diligently implemented under him, may be the most impactful against corruption and mismanagement, and therefore the real game-changer. Treasury Single Account (TSA) is there to ensure every revenue due to the Federal Government actually gets to its coffers. No more hanky-panky […]

TSA AND BVN
These two policies, even though not started under Buhari, but being diligently implemented under him, may be the most impactful against corruption and mismanagement, and therefore the real game-changer.
Treasury Single Account (TSA) is there to ensure every revenue due to the Federal Government actually gets to its coffers. No more hanky-panky by the banks.  No more profiting from those accounts by big men – and women – in ministries, departments and agencies, some of whom have made vast fortunes from merely leaving huge balances in banks, of monies that should ordinarily be deployed for the provision of public goods.  If Goodluck Jonathan had been returned as president, he would never have been able to get some MDAs to actually comply. Some of them – like NNPC – were simply bigger than Nigeria’s ex-president(s).
This is why hundreds of billions of Naira were still being held by some banks until the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had to carry out investigations and discover the pranks. Three banks have been severely sanctioned for these infractions. Apparently, no one wants to dare Buhari the magician. For not only is he a magician, the soldierman in him hasn’t gone to sleep.
The BVN – Bank Verification Number – is another masterstroke. Designed to reduce incidences of frauds and money-laundering in banks, it is proving to be a major bulwark against corruption.  This is probably equivalent to what Buhari did in 1984 when he changed the colour of the Naira and many who had acquired vast amounts illegally couldn’t step into the banks with those amounts. The monies just went to waste – in their backyards, under their beds or wherever else they had stashed them. Chances are that Buhari may still one day implement this same colour-changing policy for we hear of mountains of Naira in some former government officials’ or public servants’ mansions all over the country.
And so the BVN policy moved from being merely a policy against fraud, to a policy against corruption.  Going forward it will be impossible for some crazy government official – or indeed anyone – to actually walk into a bank and cause to be opened accounts in a fictitious names. In the ongoing case against one Maina, who was a mere Assistant Director in the Pension Office under Jonathan, it has been revealed how he diverted billions of pensioners’ monies into different accounts – some of which were run by his relatives on his behalf.
Right now, we hear that some politically-exposed people who cannot vouch for what they have acquired have simply run away and left the fortunes. Some of them could not also afford to be linked with all the accounts that they own because then it can be revealed at the touch of a button – using the BVN – just how many trillions are in banks in their names. The next progression with the BVN innovation will be targeted investigations by agencies like EFCC, where some people who still have vast fortunes in their accounts without an explanation of how these monies were come by – whether through business or paid employment – will be asked to account for it.  The age of transparency will come upon us and technology has played a major role. Even where income could be legitimately verified, the next issue will be tax evasion.  Hopefully, this will mean that people with legitimate income will no longer be harassed and oppressed in this country by charlatans, money-launderers and highly-corrupt folks or even armed robbers, drug barons and other sundry criminals. But the war will be a tough one.
The telecoms equivalent of the BVN is the reason why MTN is today wriggling under the weight of a N1.4trillion fine. That telecoms company had neglected to register 5,000,000 anonymous people who had acquired its phone lines. Some of these lines were acquired by terrorists and other criminals – including corrupt public officials – who used them to wreak havoc on this country and its people; financially, militarily, socially and otherwise.
BACK TO FISCAL PRODUCTIVITY
I conclude by drawing attention again to what is called our Fiscal Productivity, which is the lowest in Africa. According to a big friend of mine, Dr. N. N. Susungi (a former presidential candidate in Cameroun), Nigeria is an oddity because our budget is simply not a true reflection of our economy. The revenue aspect of our federal budget is simply below par, when put side-by-side with our earnings potentials, and our GDP. Hear him:
“Forget about the GDP Growth Rate and Pay attention to Fiscal Productivity and Tax Revenues.    These days when I hear about African countries with high economic growth rates, I yawn because those figures are so misleading. What is important is tax revenues generated by the government because that is the spending power of the country… The power of the South African Economy is that it generates over $90 billion in tax revenues a year. Nigeria is supposed to be the 2nd economic powerhouse in Africa, but it can only generate $23 billion in tax revenues even though it produces and exports 2.6 million barrels of crude oil per day while Angola generates up to $56 billion in tax revenues for producing around 2million barrels per day. Nigeria is not an economic giant. It is a large grape fruit which contains no juice. Cameroon’s GDP is $25 billion, but it only generates tax revenues of $5.2 billion while Equatorial Guinea generates $10.2 billion in tax revenues.”
So there you have it. The figures he used were for 2014. If our economy is bigger than that of South Africa, how come the government collects a quarter of the taxes and revenues that South Africa extracts from its economy. Don’t run away with the usual cliché ‘Nigerians don’t pay taxes’. That is not the issue here. We the hoi polloi may be paying more than South Africans already. But the issue with Nigeria is that a lot of the collections simply never make it to government coffers because they are diverted into private pockets along the way. TSA and BVN to the rescue! Hopefully.
If South Africa is too big a comparison, how come Angola, our partner-in-crude-oil-crime, generates tax revenues of $56billion and is thus able to have a bigger budget yearly for its people, while Nigeria has less than half of that? Again, it is tricks and corruption.
So, Buhari is on to something here. The N8Trillion proposal – if it comes through – is possible. And even though Recurrent Expenditure may still form majority of that, it is a good beginning.
In the meantime, visit a local ‘joint’ in your area and notice that Nigerians no longer have as much money for jollification. Apparently the policies are biting harder. I suggest though, that the government takes control of the narrative and spins it all positively for itself. The downtrodden may just not understand why his monied friends or family no longer ‘drop something’ anymore. Or why everyone now seems to be angry, going into this Christmas. Nigerians are recoiling into themselves. The life-savers are drying up. We are becoming like Europe!