FG bars PTF from COVID-19 fund
The Presidential
Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 Control has been barred from having access to the
multi-billion funds mobilised for the Federal Government by members of the
Organised Private Sector (OPS).
A new framework
released by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) on
Tuesday May 5, revealed that disbursements of all COVID-19 Fund, including
those being collected directly by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and those
domiciled with commercial banks shall be through appropriation.
Asides having N25.8
billion in the Private Sector Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) Fund
domiciled in CBN, President Muhammadu Buhari had also approved the opening of
five COVID-19 Donor Accounts which form part of the existing TSA arrangement in
Zenith Bank; Access Bank; Guarantee Trust Bank; UBA; and First Bank.
The notice from the
OAGF reads in part;
“Funds are to be
appropriated directly to participating MDAs and spending units, including the
ministries of Health and Humanitarian Affairs, Nigerian Centre for Disease
Control (NCDC), among others, rather than to an intermediary agency like the
PTF.
"Administrative
cost of the PTF shall be appropriated separately to the PTF secretariat.
“The advantage is
that the respective spending units and their accounting officers take full
responsibility for funds appropriated to them and likely bottlenecks at the PTF
are eliminated.
“Transparency is enhanced when funds are
spread to more MDA than when a huge amount is put under the control of a single
entity.”
The Minister of
Finance, Budget and National Planning Mrs. Zainab Ahmed has been directed to
work with the PTF to determine the needs of relevant MDAs, and also to “liaise
with the National Assembly for emergency passage of a supplementary budget for
the utilisation of COVID-19 donation based on estimated total collection for
the year.”
MDAs that will
benefit from the COVID-19 contributions are expected to provide information to
the public within seven days on how the money is spent, and funds are to be
transferred to the TSA sub- accounts of spending units based on approval. The
Federal Government further stated that failure of any MDA to publish details of
how they spent their COVID-19 funds “will constitute early warning signs of
mismanagement and shall be deemed as contravention of this guideline.”
The notice added;
“MDAs shall present
details of their needs together with estimated cost. This will form the basis
for allocation of funds and enable post expenditure reporting and audit.
"All
participating MDA are to provide information on all COVID-19 Fund transactions
to any member of the public – individual or corporate – under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOI) within seven days of receiving the request.
“All collections
into the commercial bank accounts are to be swept into FGN Sub-Recurrent
Account with the CBN. Failure to sweep all balances within 24 hours shall be
deemed a violation of the Presidential directive on TSA which shall attract
sanctions.”
While the OAGF will
henceforth publish a daily treasury statement for COVID-19 Fund outlining all
the inflows into the fund and all the outflows, MDAs will be publishing a daily
payment report of beneficiaries, purpose of the payment and the amount for any
payment above N5 million made out of the COVID-19 fund.
A monthly budget
performance report for the COVID-19 fund shall be published on the open
treasury portal not later than 14 days at the end of the month.
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