By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Ahmed Idris, has disclosed that the Treasury Single Account (TSA) saved Nigeria from total collapse after being hit with recession in 2016.
Mr Idris made this disclosure in an interview with the Economic Confidential in an interview in Abuja recently.
He said if the TSA were not in place, a total collapse of government activities would have occurred in Nigeria.
“But let me make a strong and important point. If not because TSA is in place and now that the recession is here, only God knows what would have happened.
“A monthly drain of over N4 billion and yet no revenue coming in and leakages continued. It could have been a disaster.
“It was government’s foresightedness and focus even as TSA was in place before the recession. And that is why we are floating and not sinking, and we will not sink God willing,” he said.
Mr Idris stated further that, “For instance, why would one university have over 120 bank accounts, and some of them even hidden and missing and carrying huge balances.
“We also discovered that there are costs associated with keeping these multiple bank accounts. Every month the government incurs over N4 billion in maintaining these accounts! Yet Government is borrowing its own money.
“And to stop government from borrowing its money and for the fact that there were no commensurate returns on such monies, it was double tragedy!
“This is like a sword with two sides that can cut from any of the sides. Sanity was brought with the introduction of TSA.”
Read full interview on https://economicconfidential.com/exclusive-interviews/tsa-hit-n7tr-agf-ahmed-idris/