16th September, 2015
Legal Practitioners in the Federal Capital Territory, on Wednesday expressed their support for the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
The practitioners in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja expressed the belief that TSA would facilitate efficient management of government revenue and enhance accountability.
The policy, they said would also help in tackling corruption, as it would be easier to trace movement of funds from a single account, rather than dealing with multiple accounts.
One of them, Mr Austin Nwosu, said that the implementation of TSA was laudable in spite of initial challenges.
“It would be a useful tool for the government to establish centralized control over its revenue; it will also engender effective revenue management, which the country seriously needs.
“This in turn would enhance accountability and enable government to know how much it generates on a daily basis and how to plan its expenditure profile.
“The implementation of TSA will help curb corruption, because there would be no loopholes for people to loot money unchecked.”
Another lawyer, Mr Joel Ali, condemned the attitude of public officers who devise all manner of tactics to circumvent every government policy.
“It is condemnable that people are placed in positions of authority where they do nothing but to loot the public treasury. This in my view justifies the introduction of TSA.
“This will facilitate compliance with sections 80 and 162 of the 1999 Constitution, which talks about the establishment of Consolidated Revenue Fund and the Distributable Pool Account.
“The abuses associated with multiple accounts will no doubt be minimized, but effective checks and balances will be key to its success,” Ali said.
NAN reports that the Independent Revenue e-Collection Scheme is implemented under Treasury Single Account (TSA) initiative.
This requires that government revenue collection is put into a single account for proper cash management.
NAN recalls that the idea of TSA was proposed by the Central Bank of Nigeria at the 235th Monetary Policy Committee Meeting in November, 2013