FG considers options for foreign missions as TSA turnover hits N30trn

AS Federal Government consider options for inclusion of foreign missions in the treasury single account (TSA), it has been revealed that transaction volume through the account has transcended the N30 trillion mark.

While receiving a delegation from The Gambia which is in Nigeria to understudy the implementation of TSA on Monday, Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed said one of the challenges facing its full implementation was how to bring in revenue generated by foreign missions usually in different currencies into the pool.

To address this challenge, she said the government “is looking at a different option to interface with TSA for foreign missions.

Also speaking at the meeting, Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) Mr Idris Ahmed disclosed that if calculated from 2012 when it was introduced, over N30 trillion has passed through the TSA.

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Idris who was represented by the Director, Funds of the AGF Mr Mohammed K Usman said “if you start from 2012 when we started the full TSA, and you are looking at the volume of transactions, I think you will be looking at something in the region of N30trillion.

“But as I said, that is in terms of transaction volume, not in terms of balances or anything, so we are looking at turnover, so the turnover should be over N30 trillion,” expressing elation that TSA, which met with stiff resistance upon full introduction in 2015 has now been globally acknowledged.

“Honestly, I feel elated, some of you may recall when we started the TSA, sometime around March 2015, as that time, a lot of people didn’t believe.

“We are very happy to hear that as at today, what we are doing has attracted so much international attention, it is not only The Gambia, we are expecting Ethiopia in the next four weeks and then another country, maybe in the next six weeks and we are aware that the international community appreciates the strides we have made in implementing TSA in Nigeria.”

Speaking on the two-week study mission, Accountant General of The Gambia, Mr Momodou Lamin Bah disclosed that his country was introducing TSA with technical support from International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union with the latter funding the trip to Nigeria.

He said Nigeria has become a reference point in the implementation of TSA in the world with IMF using Nigeria as a reference country even in its online course on the subject.

Bah noted that the delegation was large because every relevant agency in the implementation of TSA such as a central bank, Treasury department, IT experts and internal audit were all represented.

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