The Federal Government on Tuesday said it would suspend all withdrawals by Ministries, Departments and Agencies from the Treasury Single Account at the end of March.
The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, made this known while defending the budget of the ministry before the Senate Committee on Finance in Abuja.
The Committee is chaired by Senator John Eno.
Adeosun, who was responding to queries by the committee on the irregular balances in the TSA, said the account kept record of government’s income and expenditure on daily basis.
She, however, said the ministry was already working to determine the figures in the account representing liabilities “to know what would be brought forward to fund the 2016 budget”, adding: “The TSA is the bank account of MDAs.
“We are starting the process of drawing a line and March is the deadline.
“In March, we will be able to make sure that we say to those agencies, of your balance in TSA how much is capital, how much is accumulated surplus of the past, how much is tied to liabilities.
“That process, we have started and we are engaging with the agencies.
“From that, we will be able to identify how much can now be used to fund the budget.
“The TSA balances change on a daily basis because of revenues and monies being paid out.
“So, we are drawing a line.
“When the budget year closes, then we will do a closing reconciliation, freeze any monies that are no longer available for them to spend and count as part of our funding for 2016.”
Adeosun said in spite of the changes to the TSA account, the balance stood at about N2.2 trillion.
The minister said before the end of the financial year in March, the ministry would have determined what amount of the money was actual liability and what amount was available.
She added that the TSA would still undergo modifications to address specific needs.
She said the ministry was also harnessing all other possible revenue streams that could be used to fund the budget 2016.
Adeosun said: “We believe those revenues will come in and form part of the Internally Generated Revenue of government.
“The other recoveries that we are expecting is that we are looking at those pensions and salaries.
“We have identified that there is a consistent overpayment of pension contributions.
“We have put a team together now to start recovering those overpayments because we have identified some inflation in our payroll.
“Of course, that inflation translates into pensions contributions.
“Those monies can be recovered and they are going to be recovered to form part of the IGR of the Federal Government.”
Adeosun advocated performance-based remuneration for personnel of the Nigerian Customs Service to discourage corruption.
She said the ministry was also looking into customs duty waivers that had been granted to determine their benefit and recommend for a revocation, where such waivers did not benefit the country.
Corroborating this, the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Hameed Ali, said big companies like Dangote and Stallion had no business being granted waivers.
Ali wondered why the big companies should be given waivers, while smaller ones paid custom duties.
He expressed displeasure over the remuneration of customs personnel, saying that some other non-revenue generating agencies of government received better salaries than the customs.
NAN.
Trending
- Group urges Bello to submit himself to EFCC for questioning
- Dangote cement export of clinker, cement increased by 87.2%
- What shall we say about Mike Adenuga at 71?, by Toni Kan
- Tinubu mourns victims of tanker fire incident in Rivers
- Removal of structures on System 1, Odo Iya Alaro drainage setback will address major flooding issues on the mainland –Tokunbo Wahab
- Abuja Chinese Supermarket labelled all products in Chinese currency – FCCPC
- Gospel musician, Morenikeji ‘Egbin Orun’ Adeleke, laid to rest + Video
- For Ayogu Eze and Ezinne Margaret Nwomeh, by Festus Adedayo