President Muhammadu Buhari has said that his administration saved N2.2 trillion so far using the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
The President made this disclosure while interacting with a cross-section of the Nigerian community in UK on the side-line of the Supporting Syria Conference in London.
Buhari directed in October last year that all revenues due to the Federal Government or any of its agencies must be paid into the TSA or other designated accounts maintained and operated in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
According to the President, this measure is specifically to promote transparency and prevent the loss or leakages of legitimate income meant for the Federation Account.
The President faulted past administrations for operating several accounts with which they siphoned money belonging to Nigerians, vowing not to relent in the fight against corruption.
He said that he would make every Nigerian accountable and that money recovered so far can fund the country’s deficit and infrastructure development.
“When we discovered that we were already in trouble, we tried to enforce the TSA. This government did not initiate it, it was the previous government, but it was so unpopular to the previous government,” he said.
“For its own reasons, it couldn’t impose it. But when we came and we found out that we were broke, we saw that this was the way to do it.
“We discovered that NNPC had more than 45 accounts, the ministry of defence and the military had more than 70 accounts; tell me which of the accounts to trace every year.
“So we enforced TSA; we said there must be TSA, and by the end of December coming to January, this year, last month, we mopped up more than N2.2 trillion.”
SAP killed the Naira
President Muhammadu Buhari has said the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) which was initiated by former military President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida between 1986 and 1988 killed the Naira.
Speaking during an interactive session with BBC, Buhari recalled that the introduction of the SAP was the origin of the problem facing the Naira today.
SAPs consist of loans provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) to countries that experienced economic crises.
He said, ”It’s SAP that killed the Naira. I have asked the governor of central bank and others to sit and see if they can convince me to murder the Naira’. It’s disgraceful Nigeria imports toothpicks, rice and tomato purée’.
He lamented that most of the young people in this country today can’t get jobs, adding that that is one of the biggest dangers his administration is facing.
-Leadership