The Gombe State Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has added another political points into his administrative acumen by been the first Governor in the state to introduce Treasury Single Account (TSA) to guard against some fraudulent activities in the civil service.
In a one- day workshop for accounting and paying officers of Ministries, departments and agencies as well as Chief Executives of Institutions of higher learning in Gombe State on Thursday 12th November, 2020 at Government House, the Governor explained that they were gathered
today to declare open the workshop which was aimed at equipping their accounting and paying officers and chief executives of tertiary institutions with the relevant skills and techniques in order to meet the demands of the new TSA regime.
The TSA policy, he said, is geared towards the promotion of sound financial discipline and entrenching a culture of accountability and transparency in governance, adding that the reason was that
“our coming to office on May 2019, we met the State finances in a delicate situation, characterized by high debt burden, wastefulness and lack of accountability. Since then, our administration has taken bold and calculated decisions towards putting the State on the path of financial prudence and accountability”.
The Governor further added that the introduction and enforcement of the State Treasury Single Account (TSA) is one of them and it was meant In order to ensure successful implementation of the TSA hence they set up a standing committee under the chairmanship of the Deputy Governor.
The Further stressed that the ugly development led to the signing of an Executive Order No. 005 of 2020 to further strengthen the implementation and enforcement of the TSA.
Alhaji Yahaya explained that the exercise has no doubt recorded tremendous successes and was not meant to witch-hunt anybody while a total of 2,292 accounts linked to the state government were captured by the NIBSS and additional 265 hidden accounts were discovered and the sum of N1.48 billion was discovered from 860 accounts that were hitherto dormant or undisclosed while 586 dormant accounts were closed after generating their annual account statements for proper reconciliation and documentation.
No doubt, this figure the Governor noted shows the enormity of the financial indiscipline and opacity inherited by the administration.
The Governor lamented that these descripancies were unacceptable and should not been allowed by any purposeful administration to continue. To show his administration human- face, the Governor pointed out that the policy is in order to further foster efficient management of cash resources and approved the Cash Management Strategy which will help enhance budget performance by preventing costly budget overruns that negatively affect the implementation of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).
“Our administration does not see budget as mere figures, but as a tool of governance where expenditure must be carefully planned and backed by revenue, allowing us to meet our budget expectations.”
The Governor who is desirous of moving the state forward developmentally said that there would be “no development without the requisite resources to help implement our development agenda. That is why our administration is focused on mobilizing resources to finance the execution of projects and programs that will impact positively on the lives of our people.”
“The implementation of the Treasury Single Account is the first step towards achieving this. There is no doubt that the Covid-19 pandemic has led to devastating economic consequences globally. To navigate this, States must develop innovative ways of saving cost, improving efficiencies and eliminating wastage. This requires the highest level of competence and professionalism from our accounting officers”
He said it is his hope that the workshop will arm them with the required skills and strategies to ensure prudent and transparent management of state resources.
According to him , “this workshop is designed to bring all the relevant stakeholders on board the new TSA policy. The participants are carefully chosen, comprising key accounting and paying officers from all MDAs as well as our tertiary institutions. The success of the TSA depends on your ability and willingness to buy in to the new policy. I call on the participants to fully participate in the workshop and gain the necessary insights and experience to make this policy a huge success”
He also frown that his administration would not tolerate any act of negligence, indiscipline or sabotage from anyone no matter how highly placed in the society.
On his part, the Governor made it clear that his administration is determined to continue implementing policies that strengthen the institutions and promote the wellbeing of the people.
“Be rest assured that my administration will continue to provide the required support to build the capacity of our civil service in order to enable it meet the demands of 21st century governance”.
While thanking the Standing Committee on TSA Implementation led by the Deputy Governor, Dr Manassah DanielJatau for their tireless efforts in making this a huge success, he also commended the accounting officers from various MDAs and tertiary institutions for their cooperation as well as organizers for their time and knowledge.
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