The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, said her ministry as well as the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) has always complied with the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA).
Adeosun, while reacting to rumours that her ministry breached the FRA Act described as false the report that the Federal Ministry of Finance and the OAGF failed to adhere to the FRA.
The statement which was signed by her Special Adviser, Media and Communications, Oluyinka Akintunde, added:
“The minister wishes to unambiguously refute the entire misconceived report by the online medium and states that both the Federal Ministry of Finance and the OAGF have always complied with the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) as required by Section 22 of the FRA.”
“The OAGF has always prepared a cash plan for payment on a daily and month basis as well as revised it periodically. Both cash payment plan and revised plan are presented to the Cash Management Committee presided over by the Minister of Finance.”
Members of the Cash Management Committee include: the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Accountant General of the Federation, Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Director-General of the Debt Management Office, Director of Cash Management Department in the Federal Ministry of Finance, a representative of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and some support staff from the Ministry, OAGF and Budget Office.
“The minister further wishes to elucidate that the federal government’s cash payment platform, the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS)makes it mandatory that a cash plan must be in place.”
“This implies that the cash plan must be prepared, reviewed and finalised on the GIFMIS before any disbursement could be made whether personnel, overheads or capital expenditure related.”
“The decisions on disbursement to projects are also taken and approved by the Cash Management Committee.” the release noted.
