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IMPLICATIONS OF TREASURY SINGLE ACCOUNT ON BANKING SECTOR OF NIGERIA AND THE ECONOMY AS A WHOLE

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Abstract

This study is on Implications of treasury single account on banking sector of Nigeria and the economy as a whole The total population for the study is 200 staff of CBN in Akwa Ibom state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made human resource managers, accountants, customer care officers and junior staffs were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies

 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Treasury Single Account is a public accounting system under which all government revenue, receipts and income and collected into one single account, usually maintained by the country’s Central Bank and all payments done through this account as well. The purpose is primarily to ensure accountability of government revenue, enhance transparency and avoid misapplication of public funds. The maintenance of a Treasury Single Account will help to ensure proper cash management by eliminating idle funds usually left with different commercial banks and in a way enhance reconciliation of revenue collection and payment (Adeolu, 2015). Section 80 (1) of the 1999  Constitution as amended states “All revenues, or other moneys raised or received by the Federation (not being revenues or other moneys payable under this Constitution or any Act of the National Assembly into any other public fund of the Federation established for a specific purpose) shall be paid into and form one Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation”; successive governments have continued to operate multiple accounts for the collection and spending of government revenue in flagrant disregard to the provision of the constitution which requires that all government revenues be remitted into a single account. It was not until 2012 that government ran a pilot scheme for a single account using 217 ministries, department and agencies as a test case. The pilot scheme saved Nigeria about N500 billion in frivolous spending. The success of the pilot scheme motivated the government to fully implement TSA, leading to the directives to banks to implement the technology platform that will help accommodate the TSA scheme. The recent directives by President Mohammed Buhari that all government revenues should be remitted to a Treasury Single Account is in consonance with this programme and in compliance with the provisions of the 1999 constitution (CBN, 2015). The Central Bank has opened a Consolidated Revenue Account to receive all government revenue and effect payments through this account. This is the Treasury Single Account. All Ministries, Departments and Agencies are expected to remit their revenue collections to this account through the individual commercial banks who act as collection agents. This means that the money deposit banks will continue to maintain revenue collection accounts for Ministries, Departments and Agencies but all monies collected by these banks will have to be remitted to the Consolidated Revenue Accounts with the CBN at the end of each banking day. In other words, Ministries, Departments and Agencies accounts with money deposit banks must be zerorized at the end every banking day by a complete remittance to the Treasury Single Account of all revenues collected. The implication is that banks will no longer have access to the float provided by the accounts they maintained for the Ministries, Departments and Agencies. Difference types of account could be maintained under a Treasury Single Account arrangement and these may include the TSA main account, subsidiary or sub-accounts, transaction accounts and zero balance account. Other types of accounts that could operated include imprest accounts, transit accounts and correspondence accounts. These accounts are maintained for transaction purposes for funds flowing in and out of the Treasury Single Account (Adeolu, 2015).   From the foregoing, it is obvious that the primary benefit of a Treasury Single Account is the mechanism it provides for proper monitoring of government receipts and expenditure. In the Nigerian case, it will help to block most if not all the leakages that have been the bane of the growth of the economy. We have a situation where some Ministries, Departments and Agencies manage their finances like independent empire and remit limited revenue to government treasuries. Under a properly run Treasury Single Account, this is not possible as agencies of government are meant to spend in line with duly approved budget provisions. The maintenance of a single account for government will enable the Ministry of Finance monitor fund flow as no agency of government is allowed to maintain any operational bank account outside the oversight of the ministry of finance. As a matter of fact, deposit money banks stand to lose immensely from the implementation of Treasury Single Account.  This is because of the fact that public sector funds constitute a large chunk of commercial banks deposit.  Indeed, it is estimated that commercial banks hold about N2.2 trillion public sector funds at the beginning of sector quarter of 2015.  The impact of this amount of money leaving the system can be imagined when one considers the fact that each time the monthly federal allocation is released, the banking system is usually awashed with liquidity and as soon as this public sector funds dries up through withdrawal by the states, liquidity tightens again with interbank rates going up.  Of major impact will be the movement of funds of revenue generating parastatals such as the NNPC, out of commercial banks.

As the Federal government of Nigeria introduces Treasury Single Account, Banks will continue to device means of mobilizing funds from the private sector.  We see a return of the era when women are employed by banks specifically for deposit mobilization and tacitly encouraged to use any means necessary to get funds.  We see increase in deposit interest rates as a major means of inducing customers and most importantly we see a drop in lending and in the profitability of banks, at least, in the short to medium term until they fully come to terms with the impact of the policy and begin to properly position themselves for true banking business.  Ultimately, we see the share price of these banks falling as investors attempt to price in the policy impact. However, the implementation of this programme is a critical step towards curbing corruption in public finance. This is a tool to combat corrupt practices, eliminate indiscipline in public finance and ensure adequate fund flow that will be channeled to critical sectors of the economy to catalyze development.

The following are the objectives of this study:

  1. To examine the implications of Treasury Single Account on the banking sector in Nigeria.
  2. To examine the implications of Treasury Single Account on the economic development in Nigeria.
  3. To identify the benefits of Treasury Single Account.
    • RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

For the successful completion of the study, the following research hypotheses were formulated by the researcher;

H0: there is no implications of Treasury Single Account on the banking sector in Nigeria

H1: there is implications of Treasury Single Account on the banking sector in Nigeria

H02: there are no benefits of Treasury Single Account

H2: there are benefits of Treasury Single Account

The following are the significance of this study:

  1. The results from this study will educate the general public on the benefits of Treasury Single Account to the economy of the country. It will also educate on its temporary effect on the banking industry as huge sum of money will be leaving the sector suddenly.
  2. This research will also serve as a resource base to other scholars and researchers interested in carrying out further research in this field subsequently, if applied will go to an extent to provide new explanation to the topic.
    • SCOPE AND LIMITTION OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study covers Implications of treasury single account on banking sector of Nigeria and the economy as a whole. The researcher encounters some constrain which limited the scope of the study;

  1. a) AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study
  2. b) TIME: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.
  3. c) Organizational privacy: Limited Access to the selected auditing firm makes it difficult to get all the necessary and required information concerning the activities.

 1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS

TSA: Treasury single account is a financial policy introduced by the federal government of Nigeria in 2012 to consolidate all inflows from the country’s ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) by way of deposit into commercial banks, traceable into a single account at the Central Bank of Nigeria.

TRANSPARENCY: a positive and clear financial statement of Nigeria

BANKING SECTOR: Banks and other financial institutions which provide lending and investments.

ECONOMY: An economy is an area of the production, distribution, or trade, and consumption of goods and services by different agents

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IMPLICATIONS OF TREASURY SINGLE ACCOUNT ON BANKING SECTOR OF NIGERIA AND THE ECONOMY AS A WHOLE
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