The Speaker of the National Assembly (NASS), Yakubu Dogara, confirmed that the NASS has not participated in the Treasury Single Account
(TSA) Sunday in a a series of public Tweet. Mr. Dogara’s response to a SaharaReporters Tweet, which pointed out that Senate President Bukola Saraki and Mr. Dogara refused to place NASS finances under TSA, prompted outrage by many Nigerians expecting greater transparency from the NASS.
@SaharaReporters @bukolasaraki ... but the Executive cannot and must not control the finances of Agencies that are independent of it ...
— Yakubu Dogara (@doyakubu) January 3, 2016
@doyakubu @bukolasaraki Nigeria has no chance of ensuring transparency when accounts of all of its gov't agencies cannot be monitored @ once
— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) January 3, 2016
Mr. Dogara then Tweeted that the NASS stands by the sharing of receipts and revenue with the TSA
@SaharaReporters @nassnigeria @bukolasaraki As to revenue we agree in line with S.80 of the Const that all federal receipts go into the TSA
— Yakubu Dogara (@doyakubu) January 3, 2016
It will be recalled that the purpose of the TSA was to ensure there was greater financial transparency in the Nigerian government and intends to unify the range of bank accounts across the government.
Later, Mr. Dogara, who is a lawyer and Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Assembly, in an embarrassing gaffe responded to a participant in a tweet to buttress his point that the TSA wasn't independent of the executive, by claiming that the Minister of Finance is the Chair of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governing Board—which was why he felt the TSA, which is domiciled at the CBN was not safe for NASS. A Twitter user, Sola Ajayi and Mr. Dogara, had this exchange:
The Minister of Finance is the Chair of the CBN Board. Check the CBN Act. https://t.co/wy98mHjIFG
— Yakubu Dogara (@doyakubu) January 3, 2016
