Reps uncover monetary transactions yet to be captured by TSA

• Summon Magu over seizure of €6m euros
• Grill bank officials over govt’s funds

An investigative committee of the House of Representatives yesterday uncovered some foreign monetary transactions involving Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that are yet to be captured under the Treasury Single Account (TSA) two years after implementation of the policy started.

The Managing Director of SystemSpecs, Mr. John Obaro, while testifying before the Abubakar Nuhu Danburam-led committee, stated that the instruction required to ensure compliance with the TSA policy is yet to be given by the office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF).

Obaro stated that he was not in the know whether MDAs involved in foreign transactions on behalf of government are still dealing with commercial bank or the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Flanked by his Executive Director, Mr. Deremi Atanda, he said: “Foreign transactions as at today we are not aware that the accountant general has issued guidelines for the activation of the foreign transactions component of the TSA.

“What we are aware of is that as at February during the nationwide stakeholders engagement, a set of guidelines were published and one of the comments in there was that the MDAs will be advised of when the foreign component of TSA would commence.
“So today, it is only the local component of transaction and processing that is on the platform. We are yet to be advised on the foreign component of TSA.”

Obaro assured the lawmakers that both the AGF and the Auditor General of the Federation have full access to the remita transactions on the TSA for the purposes of financial reconciliations.

Danburam, who resolved to take the matter up with the AGF, also summoned the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the alleged seizure of €6 million euro belonging to the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) from First City Monument Bank (FCMB) in the country.

The directive followed the disclosure by the Managing Director of the NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman, that the measure might be a result of an investigation being conducted by the EFCC on cargo tracking deals involving the commercial bank and NPA’s business partners.

Hadiza further accused Heritage Bank Plc of failing to remit $21.3 million to the TSA account on behalf of her outfit.

She said notwithstanding the fact that INTELS is yet to remit NPA’s $13 million monthly revenue to the TSA from November 2016 to date, she acknowledged that the authority is owing INTELS about $700 million.

The lawmakers also grilled officials of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc for still been in possession of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) revenue to the tune of $80 million for the past 12 years when it served as a guarantor in a suit involving the corporation abroad.

The lawmakers particularly queried the bank officials led by Mr. Micheal Uloba over the inconsistencies in the adherence to the payment of interest rate which initially was 2.2 percent, then later reduced at “negotiated terms” to 1.5 and 1.25 percent.