Treasury Single Account: Nigeria Saves N24 Billion Monthly – Buhari

• Treasury Single Account: Nigeria Saves N24 Billion Monthly – Buhari

Nigeria has been saving a total of N24.7 billion per month because of the implementation of the Treasury Single Account and the reduction of ghost workers in the civil service, said President Muhammadu Buhari.

President Buhari, who was present at the opening of the e-Nigeria Conference in Abuja on Monday, asked the National Information Technology Development Agency, who organised the conference, to report any government agencies that failed to seek its approval before implementing IT projects.

Buhari also said the ICT sector contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product rose from 10 per cent recorded in 2017 to 11.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2018, more than 8.55 per cent contributed by the oil-sector.

The President said, “The enforcement of the use of the policy on TSA, the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System and the Bank Verification Number and the impact they have made on the administration’s public financial management reforms cannot be overemphasised.”

“In addition to the consolidation of accounts and elimination of ghost workers that resulted in a combined monthly savings of about N24.7bn, the TSA facilitated the recovery of huge sums of money including the recent N1.6bn from a single account.”

He added, “You may recall that in my address at last year’s event, I raised a number of issues relating to ICT’s role in fostering the digital economy in Nigeria, including the sector’s contribution of about 10 per cent of the nation’s GDP.”

“I am pleased to note that this has been taken seriously and stakeholders’ efforts resulted in ICT emerging as one of the key performers of the second quarter of 2018 by recording 11.81 per cent growth.”

Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu, who was also present at the event, said broadband penetration climbed from 10 per cent in 2014 to 23 per cent this October, another indication of the growing ICT sector.

Shittu said, “The Nigerian ICT sector is open for investment and it is noteworthy that the Foreign Direct Investment in the sector has increased from $3.2bn in 2015 to $4bn in 2018.

“Emerging disruptive technologies are also creating new industries and we can take advantage of this to further attract FDI to the sector.”