The Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris has said that he saves about N3.5million monthly on public power source, following the new efficiency strategy being employed in the OAGF complex, whereby only one lift be used to serve the office. Mr Idris emphasized that the current economic situation in the country requires that administrators should adopt practical strategies on cost cutting to ensure efficient management of available funds.Mr. Ahmed stated this while addressing some visitors who were at the Treasury house recently, to inspect newly provided facilities at the complex.
The Accountant -General of the Federation, explained that the measure became necessary following the unprecedented rise in the amount spent on public electricity bills which grew to about N8.6 million monthly, from the N3.4million previously being spent. He had to do a power audit to identify the high power- consuming equipment in the complex and narrowed down on the lifts, which led to current situation where all staff ,including himself and visitors to the office are to use one lift system for the six floors office complex.
Mr, Idris said that his team is still working towards further reducing the running cost of office maintenance and maintained that if such cost cutting actions were not taken, the approved amount for electricity in the 2016 budget would be exhausted before the year ends.
Speaking further, he appealed to the staff and visitors to the office to bear with the temporary discomfort, and stressing that Government was committed to meeting its obligations within the limited resources available to it.
It would be recalled that the Treasury house by its mandate is implementing the various reforms on Public finance management; most of which are IT driven including IPPIS,IPSAS and Treasury Single Account which require a 24/7 power supply to operate effectively.
K. N.. Offie (Mrs)
Deputy Director Press, OAGF
25th July, 2016.
