IGR: Kwara Directs Tertiary Institutions to Open Single Treasury Accounts
Hammed Shittu
As part of efforts to block all revenue loopholes in Kwara State, the state government has directed all nine state-owned tertiary institutions to open single treasury accounts for fees and other payments in a pilot exercise that will eventually extend to all revenue generating agencies in the state.
They have also been directed to close all other revenue accounts maintained in commercial banks across the state.
Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, who gave the directive during a meeting with heads of tertiary institutions and banks operating in the state over in Ilorin, said the directive was to enable the government get a clear picture of the institutions’ finances as a prelude to the debut of the newly established Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KSIRS), which is the sole body responsible for revenue collection and management in the state.
He said the new directive also bars the institutions from receiving fees and other revenues in cash or maintaining any other bank’s account other than those approved by the state Accountant General. “The move was designed to ensure efficiency in revenue collection and disbursement.”
The governor promised that the institutions would continue to receive budgeted funds from the state government as due and stressed that the government’s only desire is to ensure efficiency in revenue generation and management.
He identified enhanced internally generated revenue as the only way the state could survive the current economic crises in the country, adding that even if the federal government stops crude oil theft, federal allocations are unlikely to return to previous level as the sustained drop in global oil prices is likely to continue.
Ahmed stressed that the heads of tertiary institutions in the state have an opportunity to demonstrate their managerial skills as they migrate from inefficiency in revenue generation to levels of sufficiency.
He pointed out that all ministries, departments and agencies are also barred from opening bank accounts or obtaining bank loans without authorisation from the office of the accountant general.
He therefore called on banks to key into the government’s new revenue drive and avoid any action capable of contravening the new revenue law as the government would not hesitate to review its relationship with any commercial bank that attempts to sabotage the law.