Buhari Should Make Banks Pay for Multiple Treasury Accounts Losses -By Ilesanmi Omabomi

Banking Hall

I am in absolute support of President Mohamadu Buhari’s efforts to rid the country of the cancer of corruption before it kills the country. I have supported all the anti-corruption measures taken so far and my only complaint is that some of them are not earth scorching enough or involve the deployment of national resources in a manner that is less than optimal. The issue of the Single Treasury Account (TSA) is one area where I think the government can better deploy fewer resources and achieve more success.

The first point to note is that the existence and operation of a bank account is absolute proof that the bank opened the account and is aware or ought to be aware of its existence. Rather than deploying already stretched law enforcement agents to enforce his directive on TSA by ensuring that other revenue accounts do not exist by September 15, 2015, the directive should be that all banks operating in Nigeria should confirm in writing to the Central Bank of Nigeria and the President’s Office (yes, I do not trust the current head of the Central Bank!) that they have closed all revenue accepting accounts in their banks and will ensure that no new ones are opened. In addition, the President should further direct the banks to expressly undertake the following in writing:

·         Not to open and or operate or allow anyone to open and or operate a treasury/revenue bearing or accepting account in their bank;

·         To compensate the federal government, forthwith, for funds misappropriated through the existence of operation of any such account; and

·         To provide the President’s Office with details of all currently existing or recently closed treasury/revenue bearing or accepting accounts, including when it was opened, who authorized the opening and operation, funds paid into the account, interest generated by such funds, and funds drawn from such accounts.

Assuming the existing laws are not sufficient to deal with this menace, the government should rush through the National Assembly a law prescribing a minimum of 10-15 years imprisonment for anyone caught opening, causing to open, allowing to open, operating, causing to operate and allowing to operate a treasury account. This term of imprisonment should be in addition to a fine equal to three times the amount that was stolen or lost through such accounts. In the case of the institution (Bank), the punishment should be 10 times the amount lost and should be in addition to any punishment imposed on the banker(s). The drastic individual fine is necessary to send a message that the costs and consequences of operating an illegal treasury account will be many times the benefits derived. And the institutional fine is to force the banks to take responsibility for the malfeasance of their agents//workers.

Those who see nothing wrong with the looting of government funds might argue that the federal government should not make the banks do its work for it by saddling them with these requirements. To them I will say they should have left Nigeria on May 29, 2015 because a new Sheriff arrived on that day! The fact is that the banks are the ones facilitating or creating the problems of multiple treasury accounts. These accounts will not exist unless the banks open and operate them.  Most of the time government officials open and operate these accounts in full connivance with bankers.

The transfer of responsibility for preventing the existence of multiple TSA’s is imperative given the number of such accounts that maybe in existence. Few days ago, the Kaduna state government disclosed that it had discovered and closed 470 treasury accounts holding about N4billion. It did not know or disclose how much revenue had gone through these accounts since their operation began. If Kaduna with its relatively meagre resources vis-à-vis those of Nigeria can be subjected to this level of revenue buccaneering it must be worse than scary to imagine how many such accounts exist at the federal level and the billions of Naira that is lost through them.

Anyone accused of engaging in the prohibited act should not be invited for questioning by the EFCC. The EFCC should discreetly conduct its investigations and upon the evidence confirming the suspicion, the banker or official should be arrested and handcuffed in their office in the full glare of their colleagues, journalists, citizens and the whole world and then thrown into the back of a Black Maria. This is how big time criminals are arrested and treated around the world – it takes the glamour away from criminal enterprise!

Illesanmi Omabomi