Commendations have continued to trail the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) by the present administration in Nigeria.
Sylva Okolieaboh, TSA director in the ministry of finance, at a capacity building session with delegates from the Gambia, on Wednesday, in Abuja, lauded President Muhammadu Buhari whom he said deserved all the commendation for ensuring that the policy became a reality after years of planning and preparation.
The session, aimed at familiarising the Gambians with the rigors and efforts invested by the Nigerian government and the payment gateway responsible for the smooth operation of the TSA, was part of activities lined up for the two-week study tour of the TSA in Nigeria by the Gambian government.
Okolieaboh had during Monday’s opening session told journalists that government’s support had been excellent and 100 percent, in that the President himself had done everything possible to see that the policy took flight and remained afloat.
Speaking today at the enlightenment session, he explained that the government was committed to the reform such that it even held many unplanned benefits like job opportunities and revenue generation for individuals and organisations.
Though the TSA reform has today become the cynosure of other African countries, it is however not without a painstaking effort at enforcing compliance from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), he said.
”Following the order by the President to MDAs to comply with the policy, we worked assiduously to ensure that the mandate was achieved in no more than two weeks. The rigour of executing this project belies its inherent complexities. It took painstaking efforts from the Presidency, Minister of Finance, Account General of the Federation and other stakeholders to assuage the strain of the change on agencies thus making it as seamless as possible,” according to Okolieaboh.
Meanwhile, the Remita gateway has been described as an important tool that serves as a passageway for the TSA.
Explaining how Remita connects to the CBN, commercial banks, micro-finance banks, card schemes and digital wallets in ensuring that authorised financial institutions and schemes can partake in the national payment scheme, Demola Igbalajobi, divisional head, Remita International Business, said, “the Remita payment gateway plays very indispensable role in Nigeria’s TSA.”
The role he said, ranges from bridging between government systems and the financial ecosystem, securing integration with the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) of Nigeria, providing an indelible electronic invoice for every collection transaction, to giving Government full oversight of its cash inflows and outflows amongst many others.
Igbalajobi commended Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), Ministry of Finance (MOF), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and stakeholders for their unwavering commitment, understanding and collaboration as well as their trust on the payment gateway technology and reliance on the solution provider, SystemSpecs.
