The Nigerian government has announced that third-party research grants allocated to federal universities and research institutes will be exempt from the Treasury Single Account (TSA), allowing these institutions greater financial autonomy.
This new directive was communicated in a letter signed by the Acting Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Chris Maiyaki. According to the instruction, universities and research institutes can now maintain separate commercial bank accounts for managing their research grants, enabling direct access to funds for their research activities.
The letter states: “The National Universities Commission,NUC, is in receipt of the directive from the Honourable Minister of Education, Ref. DE/HE/37/VII/324 and dated 4th September 2024, forwarding the correspondence from the Principal Secretary to the President, State House, also vide PRES/87/MF/71/198/MBEP/15 and dated 23rd July 2024, on the above subject.
“The letter communicates Mr. President’s directive to the Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy to exclude third-party research grant funds of Federal Universities and Research Institutes from the Treasury Single Account (TSA), and to grant Universities and Research Institutes autonomy in operating their endowment fund accounts in Commercial banks. Please see attached.
“Consequently, I am to convey Mr. President’s approval on the above subject to Vice-Chancellors of Federal Universities for further necessary action.
“I am to add that joining instructions which appertain to operational guidelines will be issued under separate cover.”
The directive outlines President Tinubu’s instruction to the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy to exclude research grants for federal universities and research institutes from the TSA. It also grants these institutions the autonomy to operate their endowment fund accounts in commercial banks.