Jonathan, not Buhari, introduced TSA, BVN — Omokri

Former media aide to President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri has said that the presidency dishonestly claimed the initiation of some banking and monetary policies of previous administrations.

The presidency was defending itself from a criticism made by former United Kingdom Secretary for International Development, Ms. Priti Patel, where its spokesperson, Garba Shehu, claimed that the government has put in place instruments that have extraordinarily and unprecedentedly reduced corruption and corrupt practices.

In a statement made available to Daily Trust on Wednesday, Reno said president Buhari’s administration has nothing whatsoever to do with the introduction of Treasury Single Account (TSA), Bank Verification Number (BVN), and the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), adding that they are at best merely beneficiaries.

According to him, the TSA and BVN were both introduced by the Jonathan administration and launched on January 2012 and February 2014 respectively, while phase I of (IPPIS) was first introduced in 2006 under president Obasanjo and its implementation commenced in batches under Jonathan’s administration in September 2011.

“The Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system (IPPIS) was conceptualized on October 16, 2006 by the Obasanjo administration and the Pilot Phase implementation financed by the World Bank commenced at the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) upon the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

“The Phase II Service-wide implementation commenced under the platform of a new Software called Oracle Application on September 1, 2011 in batches and was financed by the Jonathan Federal Government of Nigeria.

“The Buhari administration had nothing to do with its conceptualisation, introduction and implementation.

“The Treasury Single Account was initiated in January, 2012 by the Jonathan administration and was scheduled for phased implementation. All the alerts and correspondences to commercial and private banks were sent out long before the Buhari administration came into existence.

“I have provided names, dates and places to prove that the Buhari administration is being dishonest and that its response to Ms. Priti Patel is actually evidence in her favour and proves that what she said about the insincerity of the current Nigerian President’s anti-corruption war is based on fact. ” he said.