The Federal Government on Wednesday disclosed that five banks would domicile donations from individuals and organizations to support government efforts against the Covid-19 pandemic.
A statement issued by the Director Information and Press, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Henshaw Ogubike in Abuja said President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the opening of five Covid-19 Donor Accounts which form part of the existing Treasury Single Account (TSA) arrangement in five commercial banks.
The approved banks are Zenith Bank, Access Bank, Guarantee Trust Bank, UBA and First Bank.
Ogubike explained that the framework covered all public funds allocated and dedicated to the fight against Covid-19 including the Fiscal Stimulus Package as well as all donations by corporate bodies and individuals to the Federal Government towards the fight against COVID-19 and the mitigation of its social and economic effects on citizens.
He said this directive also included donations under the Private Sector Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) Fund domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Over N27 billion is said to have been contributed to the CACOVID by individuals and organizations.
Ogubike noted that the government recognises citizens’ expectation that these resources be prudently applied towards the fight against Covid-19.
According to the statement: “In accordance with citizens’ expectations, government is committed to managing these funds with the highest sense of transparency and integrity.
“This framework is therefore designed to articulate the measures put in place by government for the transparent and accountable management of COVID-19 Donor Funds as an expression of its commitment towards bridging the trust gap.
“The TSA Sub Account in commercial banks are to be used for the purposes of receiving COVID-19 donations only. On no account shall any other fund of Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) be deposited into the accounts or any other account in commercial banks.
“All other government accounts are to be maintained at the CBN in line with the Presidential directive on TSA, the TSA Guidelines and related extant Circulars.
“And all accounts with commercial banks are to be linked with the TSA at CBN to provide a single consolidated view of aggregate government cash balances.
“This will provide a single window for real time access to details of receipts and payments across all commercial bank accounts. In the absence of a ready tool to accomplish this requirement, the current CBN Payment gateway may be deployed,” he added.
He stated that all collections into the commercial bank accounts were to be swept into Federal Government’s Sub-Recurrent Account with the CBN and failure to sweep all balances within 24 hours should be deemed a violation of the Presidential directive on TSA and would attract sanctions.
