• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Tech know-how elevates Nigeria, as Ethiopia, Kenya to understudy Nigeria’s implementation of TSA

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Nigeria’s increased use of technology and constant development of software solutions is working in favour of the country. This is as other African countries – the Gambia, Ethiopia and Kenya are currently understudying the successful implementation of Nigeria’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) and are engaging with local payment service providers and Fintech players to help provide technology expertise in the same area.
Following the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommendation, Momodou-Lamin-Bah, accountant general of the Gambia, and his delegation have been in Nigeria over the last two weeks engaging with industry players, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Accountant General of Nigeria, understudying the success and challenges of Nigeria’s TSA, prior to the implementation of a similar model in the Gambia.
Momodou-Lamin-Bah, who spoke to select journalists at the CBN office in Lagos on Monday, said, “The technology is still a challenge in the Gambia for now. We would need to work on the technology, especially payment platform gateway and that is why we are here. We have brought this to the attention of our hosts and we have requested for their support. We have requested that the accountant general’s department in Nigeria provide some support including technical support to the Gambia so that we can also implement a TSA in a very successful way.
“We learnt about the success that Nigeria has registered in this area and we have also reviewed some literature by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which used Nigeria’s experience as a case study on their capacity building on PFM.
“So, we decided to come and learn from Nigeria, how they have been successful with their approach and learn how they have been able to deal with challenges faced to know exactly what we should avoid and what we should focus more on so that we would be better prepared to implement our own TSA in the Gambia.”
The Accountant General of the Gambia said in the last two weeks, they have learnt about the approach, prioritisation, stakeholder involvement, collaboration between institutions and the importance of technological contributions in terms of infrastructure.
The TSA is a public accounting system powered by technology that links various government accounts with the view of ensuring that all revenue receipts and payments are done through a “Consolidated Revenue Account (CRA) at the CBN. This has enabled regular and effective monitoring of government cash resources, helping the federal government gain a stronger hold on its finances and reduce fraud ultimately.
In Nigeria, Remita, a payment gateway developed by indigenous software company, SystemSpecs has been successfully used by the Federal Government for the TSA, which has helped the government account for all monies gotten from all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Industry experts have commended the TSA saying that if a country has a fragmented system for handling government revenues through the banking system, it is a critical public financial management weakness that needs to be addressed.
Sylva Okolieaboh, Director, TSA, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Nigeria, said although there was room for improvement with Nigeria’s TSA in the areas of foreign exchange, foreign currency and foreign missions, almost all MDAs are compliant with the TSA and its impact in helping the government save over N45billion monthly on interest has attracted other African countries to adopt the system.
“Apart from the Gambia, I am aware that Ethiopia and Kenya are interested in learning Nigeria’s method of TSA. Hopefully in the next 4-5 weeks, Ethiopia will be coming around to understudy us,” Okolieaboh said.
“Nigeria has done things that people believed could not be done. In a country like Nigeria where you know that ordinary traffic rules cannot be obeyed by citizens, the possibility of being able to bring in all the MDAs – thousands of them scattered across the country into the TSA and making savings of over N45billion monthly on interest, that is something that all countries should be interested in adopting,” he added.
Ada Gaye, permanent secretary, Ministry of Finance and Economic affairs, the Gambia told BusinessDay that the Gambian delegates are meeting with key players in Nigeria’s financial technology (FinTech) sector before making the decision on which model will work best in the Gambia.
“The CBN and AGF have brought of face to face with the players. We will adopt a solution that is suitable for our environment,” she told BusinessDay.