Why It’s Hard To Pay Federal Government Workers, By Nigeria’s Accountant-General

A pedestrian passes a political advertisement for Nigeria’s President Mohammadu Buhari in Abuja, Nigeria, on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015. A drop in crude prices in the past year has put pressure on public finances, while the naira has declined 7 percent against the dollar this year. Photographer: George Osodi/Bloomberg

The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, (OAGF) has given assurance that the Federal Government is working out modalities to ensure that payment of Federal Government workers are paid early, in line with the directives of Mr. President.

The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Ahmed Idris gave the assurance during an interactive session with a team of journalists led by Director News Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Alhaji Sani Sulieman.

According to the AGF, “there is a standing instruction from Mr. President for workers to be paid on or before 24 or 25 of every month,” but said compliance has been hampered by the limited resources available to Government which can only be determined after the monthly FAAC meeting.

He however, revealed that Government has taken further steps to make a provision that will accommodate salary payment even before FAAC, saying this is would be given a test this month.

Mr. Idris  promised that his office is working assiduously to ensure that it complies with the directive of President Buhari to pay salaries on or before the 24th or 25th of every month, assuring that the necessary approval would be sought and gotten to ensure that this becomes a reality.

In another development, the Accountant- General of the Federation has given an update on the amount so far collected on the Treasury Single Account,(TSA) platform to be to be slightly above 2.7 trillion naira.

He further stated that these monies belong to Federal Government Ministries, Department and Agencies, and meant for their operations and not for sharing or for any other purposes as being reported in some quarters of the media.

Mr.Idris said that the TSA has helped government to have a firm and full control of its resources, blocking leakages, helping it to reduce the cost of borrowing and to monitor spending in the MDAs.

He called on all organizations who have any problems  on the operations of the TSA to come forward with their problems assuring that the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation is committed to resolving what-ever challenges they  might have in line with best practices.