Buhari Directs MDAs To Publish Financial Transactions Online
President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) to henceforth, publish daily treasury statement in an effort to drive open treasury.
The report should be published daily on www.opentreasury.gov.ng, a portal launched yesterday to host all federal government transaction above N5m.
President Buhari said the hosted report must provide information about what comes into the national purse and what goes out every day.
Represented by Minister of state, Ministry of Niger Delta , Senator Tayo Alasoadura, President Buhari urged AGF and all accounting officers to publish daily payments reports in the new portal without failing. The effort, according to him, is the new federal government’s financial transparency policy and open treasury portal. The occasion coincided with day set aside as international anti- corruption day by the United Nations Convention against corruption.
The president said all public sector fund across Ministries, Departments and Agencies ( MDAs) of government, must be spent openly and transparently. President Buhari said: “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 N 10 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”, he directed.
The President, in addition, charged AGF to publish monthly, fiscal accounts detailing fiscal performance of the federation including receipts from all the collection agencies and payments out of the federation account. This he said must be done within fourteen days after the end of the month. “The AGF and all accounting officers of MDAs must publish financial statements for government as a whole and for individuals. These must be published within a month after the end of the quarter.
The AGF must publish annual general purpose financial statements while all public sector entities are required to publish statements for their individual entities. These statements must be prepared following International Public Sector Accounting standards and mustbe ready within a month after the end of the first quarter of the following year,” president said.
The Director General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Mr. Dasuki Arabi, represented by the Director Finance, Mr. Wayegari Gulak said that as part of its mandate to coordinate, evaluate and monitor the implementation of reforms in MDA’s, it will ensure that the reform initiative is not only implemented but geared towards the realization of its main objective.
