Nigerian govt releases guidelines for exemption of third-party research grants from TSA

The Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Oluwatoyin Madein, has issued guidelines for exclusion of research grants of Federal Universities and Research Institutions from the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in a federal treasury circular issued in Abuja on Thursday, Mrs Madein said the new guidelines would be implemented immediately.

She said the guidelines were sequel to President Bola Tinubu’s approval of the exemption of research grants and endowment funds of Federal Universities and Research Institutions from TSA.

Guidelines

The guidelines stipulate that federal universities and research institutions are to obtain approval of the AGF before opening research grant/endowment fund accounts with commercial banks.
It also stipulates that all other accounts are to remain with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Mrs Madein, whose office manages the TSA policy, said all research grants and endowment funds must be supported by a well-executed Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) between the tertiary institutions and the granting bodies.

According to her, the OAGF shall maintain a list of all research grant/endowment fund bank account(s) opened by all federal universities and research institutions pursuant to the presidential approval.

“The management of the accounts, including accounting and reporting of transactions with the commercial banks shall be restricted to the bursary/accounts departments of the tertiary institutions,” she said.

The AGF reiterated that the research grant/endowment fund accounts would be strictly for receiving grants.

She said on no grounds should other public funds be operated in such accounts.

“Such accounts shall not be deemed to be the operational accounts of the tertiary institutions/research institutes,” she said.

She said annual returns, including bank statements and bank reconciliation statements on the research grants/endowment accounts, would be submitted by the institutions to her office for reconciliation.

She said the annual returns would be reconciled into the General Purpose Financial Statement (GPFS) of the government.

According to her, in all their operations, the institutions are to strictly comply with the TSA/e-collection policy guidelines.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the OAGF had earlier issued operational guidelines for the exit of tertiary institutions from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

In the guidelines, the office said the payrolls for the month of October for the tertiary institutions would be processed on the IPPIS platform.

It added that the ones for November and December would be processed by the institution and will be checked by the OAGF IPPIS and paid through GIFMIS platform.