TheCable

President Muhammadu Buhari says the treasury single account (TSA), bank verification number (BVN), and national identification number (NIN) initiatives have reinforced his administration’s efforts in tackling corruption.

Buhari said this on Tuesday while speaking at the Future Investment Initiative Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The president’s speech was titled ‘Investing in Humanity: The Nigerian Perspective’.

Speaking on his administration’s anti-corruption drive, Buhari said the TSA, BVN, and NIN, among other reforms, will give comfort to investors.

The president said the newly-launched eNaira will help tackle the illicit flow of funds, adding that the digital currency will increase participation in the banking sector.

“Yesterday, I launched the eNaira, the electronic version of our national currency, which puts us on track to become the first African country to introduce a central bank digital currency,” the president said.

“We believe this and many other reforms, will help us increase the number of people participating in the banking sector, make for a more efficient financial sector and help us tackle illicit flow of funds.

“To further strengthen our anti-corruption drive, increase accountability and transparency, we have centralised government funds through a treasury single account, and ensuring that all Nigerians with a bank account use a unique Bank Verification Number (BVN).

“These initiatives, coupled with our nationwide national identification number (NIN) exercise, reinforce our efforts to tackle corruption and fraud. We believe that this should give investors a lot of comfort.”

‘COVID HAS DEEPENED DEBT PROFILE OF POOR COUNTRIES’

The president said the COVID-19 pandemic has deepened the debt profile of poor countries, adding that poor countries now allocate more resources to service external debts at the expense of basic amenities.

The president argued that nations cannot invest in humanity without relieving poor countries of their debt burden.

“We cannot invest in humanity without relieving our countries from the crushing effects of the debt burden especially when the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk of deepening the debt portfolio of poor countries,” he added.

“These nations increasingly allocate more and more resources towards external debt servicing and repayment at the expense of the health, education and other services that contribute to the overall well-being of their population.”

According to the Debt Management Office (DMO), Nigeria’s public debt rose to N35.455 trillion at the end of June 2021.