Abstract
The purpose of this article is to evaluate and critique the policy of Treasury Single Account (TSA) adopted by the Nigerian government as an essential tool for enhancing transparency and accountability in public sector financial. Theoretically, it is expected that TSA would bring about mutual benefit, halt economic injustice and engender financial discipline, transparency, accountability, a new economic and political order in Nigeria. However, in the public sector management and political economy of Nigeria, its impact has been a mixed bag of the good, the bad and the ugly. Within the framework of New Public Management approach, the paper explores the gamut of issues surrounding the implementation of TSA and concludes that, for an administration that has social contract with Nigerians in terms of service delivery; it has the obligation to aggregating states’ resources to provide social services, amenities and infrastructural development to the people. Any step taking to ensure accountability and transparency by revenue generating agencies of government should be seen as a step in the right direction. However, while change is desirable, we feel there is need to exercise caution on account of the peculiar nature and character of the Nigerian state and society. Given the catalogue of challenges facing the operations TSA, it recommends among others, that the adoption of TSA in the country’s public sector should progress slowly and wisely. Institutions and institutional rules should be strengthened, be accountable and made autonomous of cabals and individual who might want to manipulate the system for group or personal interests.
Highlights
Treasury Single Account is a public accounting system under which all government revenue, receipts and income are collected into one single account, usually maintained by the country’s Central Bank and all payments done through this account as well
The order on Treasury Single Account (TSA), which came into effect on August 11 (2015), marks the beginning of MDAs’ retirement of revenues due to the Federal Government into a unified account maintained by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN, 2015)
It is believed and hope that if the policy is properly implemented, it will greatly improve the management of government revenue, it will pave way for the timely payment and capturing of all revenues going into the government treasury, without the intermediation of multiple banking arrangements that leads to financial corruption in the public sector
Summary
Treasury Single Account is a public accounting system under which all government revenue, receipts and income are collected into one single account, usually maintained by the country’s Central Bank and all payments done through this account as well. Improved efficiency and effectiveness of public spending helps maintain the fiscal discipline requested by them and is instrumental in promoting the structural reform agenda of the present government. It alleviates budget constraints as it allows achieving the same results at lower levels of spending or increases value for money by achieving better outcomes at the same level of spending. Successive governments have continued to operate multiple accounts for the collection and spending of government revenue in flagrant disregard to the provision of the Constitution, which requires that all government revenues be remitted into a single account It was not until 2012 that government ran a pilot scheme for a single account using 217 MDAs as a test. The order on TSA, which came into effect on August 11 (2015), marks the beginning of MDAs’ retirement of revenues due to the Federal Government into a unified account maintained by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN, 2015)
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