The Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration has not been having the best of times convincing Nigerians of its mode of operations. A classic example is the response of Nigerians to the Federal Government’s tweet on Friday. In the tweet, the FG claimed that it had saved N4 billion monthly from then implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) which was initiated by the Minister of Finance and approved by the President.
The TSA is a financial policy that consolidates all the revenue inflows of then FG into a single account managed by the apex bank in the country, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). It was initiated as a cost-saving, efficient and transparent way of managing national funds.
In typical fashion, Nigerians went quizzing the veracity of the N4 billion monthly savings claim, wondering why the FG then had to go on a borrowing spree, the latest of which is the $5.5 billion foreign debt it requested approval for from the National Assembly. These are a few of the replies tweeted at the FG.
“N4billion monthly times 2 & half years. Do the maths and tell me if it’s not foolish to resort to borrowing in surplus! Ndi ara!”- ‏@jacksonpbn
“Since 2015, its has been stories of saving, recovering of several billions, trillions without corresponding effect on economy. Free us joor!”- @yemiluvme
“You people keep saving and recovering money and the same time borrowing and wanting to borrow money. Who is deceiving who please? You or We?”- @ShakaraCeo1
“Y’ll keep shooting yourself in the foot. Show how this N4bn has impacted the economy… Rara it’s yayanyanyan you people will be saying”- @amAbib
“I’m disappointed with the way things are handle, after all this saving, recovery funds and lot more D govt still request for more loan”- @EnnisDavid1
From these replies, it is clear that Nigerians are still confused about why the FG needs .to borrow such huge sums if the savings from the TSA is as much as they claim. However, the FG could claim that the savings it mentioned are reflected in a lower recurrent expenditure, while the loans are expected to cater for major capital infrastructural development.
