The Federal Government has been urged to propose a bill to the National Assembly to make the operation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) constitutional.
A group, United Global Resolve For Peace (UGRFP) made this call in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday.
Director of the UGRFP, Shalom Olaseni, said that such legislation will ensure that no new government in the future can abolish the policy.
He also called on the government to reduce the N150 per transaction charge unilaterally imposed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Nigerians.
According to Olaseni, the transaction charges should be reduced to N50 and should be borne by the government and not by Nigerians.
He said that the position of the group was made known when it met with stakeholders in the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, led by the Director, Treasury Single Account (TSA).
Olaseni said that the group used the opportunity to again condemn the imposition of charges on Nigerians as well as the non-compliance of some agencies of government with the policy.
The group stated its commitment to work with the public and private sector in ensuring that the scheme is not hijacked nor brought to ruin by incompetence, shady deals and negligence.
“We reiterated our position that paying N150 is a needless cost borne by the Nigerian public. It is our position that there is indeed room to review the service charge from N150 to no more than N50 payable per transaction and at the expense of government.
“The Treasury Single Account is a government programme not unlike other infrastructural engagements such as road building and construction of bridges. It is only fair that such expenses be borne by the government paid prior or in arrears as circumstances demand.
“It is also our position that there is an urgent need to legislate on the treasury single account scheme to give it a legal instrument that makes it not just a state policy but one that cannot be arbitrarily done away with by consequent governments.
“In the next few weeks, we shall be detailing our plans to hold a conference as a referendum on the TSA policy to discuss its gains, challenges and areas for caution,” he said.
Giving insights into the meeting with the TSA Director, Olaseni said that the Director disclosed that the TSA policy was at 100 per cent compliance with only a very few agencies still defaulting.
