FG Assures of Payment of Salaries before Christmas – AGF

Image: Accountant-General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris

*To upgrade financial management system

The office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) says it is upgrading the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) to ensure payment of December salary before Christmas.

The Director of Funds in the office, Mr Mohammed Dikwa, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja on the sideline of a one-day workshop on the Treasury Single Account and e-payment/collection.

Dikwa said that the system would be shut down over the weekend for the upgrade.

“The essence of the shutdown is for maintenance. Some people complained that they couldn’t have access over the last few weeks because of the queue management challenge.

“We want to upgrade the infrastructure that we have over the weekend so that by Monday next week all payments will go on smoothly.

“If you look at the trend, people find it difficult to have access easily because the infrastructure was not strong enough to effectively handle the queue management.

“But with the new improvement, the system will be easily accessed, there will be seamless transactions, and people will get their money before Christmas particularly salaries and other financial commitments of government.

“I want to assure all Federal civil servants that, God willing, they will get their salaries before Christmas because we will try as much as possible to pay the salaries before that time.

“We hope to have the Federation Account Allocation Committee meeting much more earlier and that will give us the room to have more money into the consolidated revenue of the federal government that will be used for the purpose of paying salaries and other commitments of government as far as this financial year is concerned.’’

Earlier at the workshop, Dikwa, who represented the AGF, Alhaji Ahmed Idris, said that the maintenance was to enhance the capability of the system to address the issue of queue management and other associated operational challenges.

NAN reports that GIFMIS is an information technology based system for budget management and accounting that is being implemented by the federal government.

The aim is to improve public expenditure management processes and to enhance greater accountability and transparency across ministries and agencies.

In her remarks at the workshop, the acting Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Wilnifred Oyo-Ita, said the workshop was an opportunity for stakeholders to deliberate on the challenges associated with the TSA implementation.

Oyo-Ita, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in her office, Mr Yemi Adelakun, said that the outcome of the workshop would provide the much needed feedback for policy evaluation and review.

NAN reports that the workshop was organised by Jk Consulting Company Limited in collaboration with the Office of the Account-General of the Federation.

It participants included senior account officers and internal auditors of ministries, departments and agencies of the federal government.

(Source: NAN)