The Executive Chairman, Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS), Shade Omoniyi hosted the Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Barrister Ibrahim Suleiman, and representatives of all government-owned tertiary institutions in the State recently, to discuss policy directions to improve the implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA) for all State-Owned Institutions for an improved revenue generation.
In her opening remarks, Shade Omoniyi, while welcoming the team explained that the purpose of the meeting was to ensure transparency and accountability of the activities in all Tertiary Institutions in the State.
The Executive Chairman, KW-IRS said the initiative started in the previous administration, but with little compliance; this necessitated the Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq led administration to revalidate the use of TSA through an executive order. “The TSA platform will enable KW-IRS to understand peculiarities of each institution in the State and how to incorporate all schools into the platform to bring about unified and seamless process”, Omoniyi said.
In their separate remarks at the meeting, the Director, Accounts and Finance, Omolara Ojulari and Director, Admin & Operations, KW-IRS, Olatunji Balogun corroborated the Executive Chairman’s assertions that the new Treasury Single Account automated system will provide opportunities for effective collections and eliminate any form of manipulation. The two directors further emphasized that, use of Treasury Single Account in the State will not only improve revenue generation but will also enable the Service to know what an institution brings into the coffers of the government in terms of revenue which in turn form strong basis to juxtapose budgets and expenditures of each institution at the long run.
The Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Barrister Ibrahim Suleiman in his response, reiterated that all tertiary institutions in the State needs to embrace the new modus operandi as it concerns TSA as a policy direction geared towards accountability. He further explained that official letters have since been sent out to institutions to intimate them on the need to allow KW-IRS to have full access to their respective revenue base, but unfortunately no institution gave a positive response. “I want to believe by this meeting, compliance will commence without delay, I also want to plead that representatives of schools bring forward their wealth of experience and concerns to ensure success is achieved on this”, said Suleiman.
Representatives from State’s institutions present at the meeting expressed readiness to comply with the government directives, adding that it is a welcome initiative and will improve the integrity of all parties concerned. They however registered fears as associated with the TSA, such as cyber insecurities, with the influx of private institutions among others, with an appeal to the State government to provide adequate security to foil any form of attack on the TSA platform.
The meeting also suggested that continuous media engagement, awareness, and sensitization through both social and traditional media be adopted by State-owned institutions to attract more students to the institution which in turn brings an enhanced revenue generation for the State.
The representatives during the meeting noted that, “as employees of the government, our loyalty remains with the government of the day, but we seek continuous support of the government in areas of subvention to keep our schools running more smoothly, with peculiarities of each institution put into consideration in all decisions making, to guide against negative impacts on activities of schools”.
The meeting, which was held on the 13th of September, 2021, had in attendance, the top management of KW-IRS, Ministry of Tertiary Education, Accountants and Bursars from the States’ Tertiary Institutions.
Signed
Corporate Affairs Department, KW-IRS
15/09/2021