Treasury Single Account (TSA) and Performance of Public Sector in Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract

The importance of the introduction of treasury single account cannot be overemphasized given that it is principally to ensure accountability of government revenue, enhance transparency and avoid expropriation of public funds. This study examined the effect of treasury single account on the performance of selected Federal Ministries in Enugu State. The study adopted survey research design. The method ensured that the researcher collects his data at a particular period from the selected sample to describe a large population at that particular point in time. The study area of this research is selected federal ministries namely Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Education all located in Enugu state. The population of the study constitutes of the staff of two selected federal ministries in Enugu state namely; Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Federal Ministry of Education. The population of the two selected ministries is totaled two hundred and eighty-seven (287) staff. The sample size was derived using the Cochran statistic and the value derived was three hundred and eighty-five (385). To determine the number of staff to be selected from each ministry, the proportionate stratified random sampling approach was used. The data was collected with the aid of a questionnaire that is properly drafted using the 5 scale Likert system for questionnaire. The Cronbach Alpha reliability test was utilized to conduct the reliability test. A cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.78 was derived and was considered acceptable. Frequency tables and percentages was adopted to analyse the demographic characteristics of the respondents and leading research questions while the regression analysis was adopted to test the hypotheses of the study. The major findings of the study were that treasury single account has not significantly ameliorated fund misappropriation in selected federal ministries in Enugu State and treasury single account has not significantly enhanced prompt release of funds for goods and services in selected federal ministries in Enugu State. It is therefore the recommendation of the study that the adoption of TSA alone may not be sufficient to curb corruption in the Nigerian public sector hence the need for the judiciary, police, anti-graft agencies and the media in the country be strengthened to tackle the issues of corruption and ensure transparency, probity and timeliness in handling corruption related cases.