TSA Gains CIBN’s Support

The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) says it would back the introduction and implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
President of CIBN and Chairman of Council, Prof Segun Ajibola, who disclosed this at a 2- day retreat on TSA in Abuja, also said that its implementation would instill sanity in the management of public funds.
Ajibola noted that TSA is also a tool for fighting corruption in public and private lives.
He explained that by benchmarking international best practices in the management of public funds, Nigeria would have gone a step further in improving her transparency parameters in the eyes of the comity of nations.
According to him, “the timing of its introduction, the speed of implementation couple with other areas, macro economic disequilibrium have left many a bank prostrate”.
He added, “unfortunately, the observed hemorrhagic impact of the old order has remained with us for long. A phased implementation of the withdrawal of public funds from banks would have helped to stem the current fledging position of our financial system.”
He said the government should intensify the on-going restricting of the economic environment and move away from business ownership, saying, “privatization of government ownership in critical sectors of the economy, oil drilling and exploration, oil refinery, transportation, iron and steel, shipping and admiralty would leave government with less cash to ponder about.”
He continued, “bankers would always struggle to operate a template that would pull cash from whoever the holders are and that has been the problem over the years. If governments continue to account directly and indirectly, for abut 60 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, this will be too significant for banks to ignore.”