The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 Control has been barred from having access to the multi-billion funds mobilised for the Federal Government by members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS).
A new framework released by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) on Tuesday, May 5, revealed that disbursements of all COVID-19 Fund, including those being collected directly by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and those domiciled with commercial banks shall be through appropriation.
The notice from the OAGF reads in part “Funds are to be appropriated directly to participating MDAs and spending units, including the ministries of Health and Humanitarian Affairs, Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), among others, rather than to an intermediary agency like the PTF. The administrative cost of the PTF shall be appropriated separately to the PTF secretariat. The advantage is that the respective spending units and their accounting officers take full responsibility for funds appropriated to them and likely bottlenecks at the PTF are eliminated. Transparency is enhanced when funds are spread to more MDA than when a huge amount is put under the control of a single entity. MDAs shall present details of their needs together with an estimated cost. This will form the basis for the allocation of funds and enable post expenditure reporting and audit. All participating MDA are to provide information on all COVID-19 Fund transactions to any member of the public – individual or corporate – under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) within seven days of receiving the request. All collections into the commercial bank accounts are to be swept into FGN Sub-Recurrent Account with the CBN. Failure to sweep all balances within 24 hours shall be deemed a violation of the Presidential directive on TSA which shall attract sanctions.”