AGF Issues Guidelines for Excluding Third-Party Research Grants from TSA
By Patience Ikpeme
The Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Dr. Oluwatoyin Madein, has issued guidelines for the exclusion of third-party research grant funds from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy for federal universities and research institutions.
The guidelines, contained in a federal treasury circular issued in Abuja, are a direct response to the President’s approval of the exemption of research grants and endowment funds from the TSA policy.
The guidelines stipulate that federal universities and research institutions must obtain prior approval from the AGF before opening research grant/endowment fund accounts with commercial banks. All other accounts must remain with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The AGF’s office will maintain a list of all research grant/endowment fund accounts opened by federal universities and research institutions. The management of these accounts, including accounting and reporting of transactions, will be restricted to the Bursary/Accounts Departments of the tertiary institutions.
Dr. Madein emphasized that research grant/endowment fund accounts are solely for receiving grants and should not be used for operating other public funds. These accounts will not be considered operational accounts of the tertiary institutions/research institutes.
Annual returns, including bank statements and bank reconciliation statements, on the research grants/endowment accounts must be submitted to the AGF’s office for reconciliation into the General Purpose Financial Statement (GPFS) of government.
The AGF reiterated that federal universities and research institutions must strictly comply with the TSA/e-collection policy guidelines in all their operations.
The issuance of these guidelines follows the recent release of operational guidelines for the exit of tertiary institutions from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS). The guidelines stipulate that payrolls for October 2024 will be processed on the IPPIS platform, while November and December 2024 payrolls will be processed by the institutions and checked by the OAGF IPPIS before being paid through the GIFMIS platform.
