The Accountant-General of the Federation
(AGF), Mr. Ahmed Idris, wednesday said the federal government would
soon begin payment of staff salaries by the 25th of every month, as
directed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Idris, who disclosed this in an
interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said: “This is
going to be given a test, I believe, by this month.’’
The AGF also said the government was
working on a new arrangement, which if approved, would ensure payment of
salaries before the monthly meeting of the Federal Accounts Allocation
Committee (FAAC). According to him, usually, salaries are paid after the
FAAC meeting, where revenue accruing to the federation’s account are
shared between the federal, state and local governments.
“There is a standing instruction the
president to pay salary on or before 24th or 25th of every month and we
will try as much as possible to comply and to abide by that.
“We are taking a step further to make a provision whereby we can accommodate salary payments even before FAAC.
“This is going to be given a test I believe by this month.
“We will go to seek for necessary
approval of our political masters to make sure that at least salary and
other statutory payments are made even before FAAC.
“Because we can project how much they
are and therefore we can prepare and hit the ground running to make them
realisable and actualised.
“Even where we delay FAAC, we can still pay salary,’’ he said.
Idris dispelled the widely held belief
that the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy is responsible for the
delay in the payment of salaries and attributed the situation to the
crash in global oil prices, which has affected the inflow of income to
the country.
“Nigeria is practically making about 30
to 40 per cent of what it used to make by way of revenue from oil and
that has affected inflow generally.
“These inflows are what the federal, state and local governments receive to service the economy.
“It is when we receive these resources and sit at the end of the month for FAAC that the resources are shared among the three tiers of government,” Idris noted.
“It is when we receive these resources and sit at the end of the month for FAAC that the resources are shared among the three tiers of government,” Idris noted.
Citing the benefits of TSA, Idris said
more than N2.7 trillion had been realised under a single account
domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
He also said the cost of borrowing by
government agencies had been reduced substantially and that the economy
was already a beneficiary of the policy.
“The monies are stimulating the economy
in a way that delivery of social goods, services and efficiency in
government expenditure are being achieved.
“So I believe that they are already
serving the purpose for which they are meant and they are within the
economy,’ the AGF stated.
He said he was optimistic having seen
the benefits of the TSA policy to the federal government, states
governments would key into it.
Idris said any insinuation that the
policy would lead to laying off of staff by deposit money banks was
unfounded as the policy was not intended to disrupt the operations of
those banks.
He, therefore, advised commercial banks to re-strategise on how to make profit without relying on government funds.
He, therefore, advised commercial banks to re-strategise on how to make profit without relying on government funds.
“I think banks need to really focus
themselves and re-direct themselves to face traditional banking business
and not rely heavily on public resources.
“They should be more strategic and focused and I believe that they will be better for it,’’ he noted.
“They should be more strategic and focused and I believe that they will be better for it,’’ he noted.
The TSA policy was introduced in September 2015 to ensure that government resources are centralised in a single account.
It was introduced to block leakages in
the system to ensure transparency and efficiency in the management of
government resources.
0 comments:
Post a Comment