President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the temporary restructuring of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) to accommodate cash donations from the public on COVID-19.
The announcement, which came from the minister of finance, budget and national planning, Zainab Ahmed, on Monday in Abuja, brings some comfort to concerns on the effective utilisation of contributions that have reached N19.4 billion from Nigeria Private Sector Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID).
“In the interim, Mr President has approved the restructuring of the TSA in order to better mobilise cash donations from the generality of our people and corporate bodies across the nation, create flexibility and build a coalition with financial institutions while maintaining the sanctity of the TSA,” Ahmed stated.
The finance ministry is presently developing a comprehensive framework for the transparent management of the contributions.
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Ahmed said going forward, the Covid-19 Donor Accounts, which will form part of the existing TSA arrangement, would be opened with Zenith Bank, Access Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, UBA, and First Bank.
According to Ahmed, these accounts will be linked to the main TSA for ease of monitoring and reporting.
Ahmed said she would be issuing circulars and Ministerial Orders to ensure that charitable donations by benevolent companies to support our COVID-19 pandemic efforts were tax-deductible, pursuant to Section 25 of the Companies Income Tax Act.
She also mentioned that the proposed Amendment to the 2020 Budget necessitated by the decline in international oil prices will provide for the COVID-19 N500 billion Crisis Intervention Fund and other adjustments
Approved by Buhari last week, COVID-19 Crisis Intervention Fund will involve drawing much-needed cash resources from various Special Funds and Accounts, in consultation with and with the approval of the National Assembly.
The N500 billion is proposed to be utilized to upgrade healthcare facilities as earlier identified by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and approved by President Buhari.
It will also support the Finance of the Federal Government’s Interventions to help States improve healthcare facilities; Finance the creation of a Special Public Works Programme, and as well fund any additional interventions that may be approved by the president.
Ahmed also announced that N60 billion in allowances and operational costs have been earmarked from the fund for the Special Public Works Program, which the President had previously approved its Pilot in eight States to be implemented by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) from February 2020 to April 2020.
However, the program has now been extended to all 36 States and the FCT from October 2020 to December 2020.
Ahmed also explained that the new timeframe is to ensure that the Programme is implemented after the planting season, and is projected will result in the employment of about 774,000 Nigerians, including 1,000 people per Local Government.
According to her, the finance ministry is also working on how to extend the Special Public Works Programme, to provide modest stipends for iterant workers to undertake Roads Rehabilitation, Social Housing Construction, Urban and Rural Sanitation, Health Extension and other critical services.
The intervention will be undertaken in conjunction with the key Federal Ministries responsible for Agriculture, Environment, Health, and Infrastructure, as well as the States, to financially empower individuals who lose their jobs due to the economic crisis, she added.
She, however, mentioned that further details regarding the operation of the N500 billion COVID-19 Crisis Intervention Fund will be announced once the consultations with the National Assembly and the key Ministries are concluded.
She also disclosed ongoing talks between the executive and federal lawmakers on the amendment of the 2020 Appropriation Act for speedy implementation, as risks heighten due to low oil and non-oil incomes.
The government has revised the oil benchmark price for 2020 to $30/barrel and oil production to 1.7mbpd. Brent oil prices fell to as low as $19.125/barrel last Friday. The new low is against $57/barrel the 2020 budget benchmark.
Oil production in 2020 year-to-date is 2.0mbpd as compared with the 2020 Budget projection of 2.18mbpd.
Also, Non-Oil Revenue projections including various tax and customs receipts, as well as proceeds of privatisation exercises have been adjusted downwards to meet current economic realities.
The Budget Office is currently working on a revised 2020 – 2022 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework / Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) as well as an Amendment to the 2020 Appropriation Act, the minister said.
