The Accountant-General of the Federation, AGF, Ahmed Idris, 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.
Mr. Idris, gave this assurance on Tuesday, April 19 2016 in an interactive session with a team of journalists from the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), led by the Director News, Alhaji Sani Sulieman but also had in attendance, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent Folashade
According to the Accountant-General of the Federation,” 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.
Kenechukwu Offie,
Deputy Director, OAGF
