As part of his drive to encourage transparency in public service, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, issued a directive yesterday which requires all government ministries and agencies (MDAs) to publicly disclose any transaction that is N5 million and above.
The directive, which was issued directly to the office of the Accountant General of the Federation, was disclosed yesterday during the launch of the portal www.opentreasury.gov.ng. The portal is to be updated daily with transactions by agencies and ministries, with the aim of encouraging an open treasury. This will also make it possible for Nigerians to monitor government’s daily expenditure.
Speaking on behalf of the President, Nigeria’s Minister of State for the Niger Delta, Senator Tayo Alasoadura, told the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, to ensure that his office publishes details of such government spending, forthwith.
In the same vein, the Accountant General is expected to publish monthly fiscal accounts that will detail all the financial performance of the government, along with receipts.
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“The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF) must publish a daily treasury statement which will provide information about what came into the national purse and what went out every single day. I repeat every single day. Henceforth, treasury is required to publish this information unfailingly. The AGF and all Accounting Officers must publish daily payments reports.
“With these reports, the Treasury will publish payments of at least N10 million while all MDAs must publish payments above N5 million made out of all public funds under their purview. The information to be published must include the MDA responsible, the beneficiary, the purpose and amount of each payment. Accounting Officers are responsible for providing answers to any questions from the public relating to transactions completed by entities under their charge”
President Muhammadu Buhari has long been clamouring for transparency in public service with his fight against corruption agenda. During his first tenure in office as a civilian administrator, the President implemented the Treasury Single Account which consolidates all government’s monetary inflows into a single account monitored by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
