Osinbajo: No appetite to implement TSA under Jonathan

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says the administration of ex-president Goodluck Jonathan had no appetite to implement the treasury single account (TSA) policy.

He said this on Monday while speaking at the opening ceremony of the open government partnership [OGP] week held in Abuja.

The TSA is a federal government-regulated account where all government revenues and incomes are domiciled. Jonathan introduced the policy in 2015 “to aid transparency”.

However, Osinbajo said the TSA policy existed as a mere idea under the past administration.

“We inherited a treasury single account (TSA) system that existed mainly as an idea, without the appetite for serious implementation,” he said.

“Since the presidential order by President Buhari in August 2015, we have made remarkable progress in expanding the reach of the TSA, so that today, we are almost at 100 percent compliance.”

Osinbajo said corruption has “threatened the very fundament of our existence”.

“It was the reason why, in spite of record oil revenues between 2011 and 2013/2014, we saw no savings, and very little investment in infrastructure and jobs, and, in spite of the billions of dollars reportedly invested in security, the Boko Haram insurgency and other cases of insecurity did not abate,” he said.

“Our government has adopted a two-step approach to dealing with this scourge of systemic corruption. The first is to stop grand corruption and the accompanying impunity.

“The second step and the more enduring one, is what this week is about, creating a self- sustaining system that assures transparency and accountability.”

The vice-president said the current administration has made “remarkable progress” in pushing the frontiers of transparency and accountability in the federal government.