President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) to, henceforth, publish daily treasury statement to keep to the ethos of financial transparency of his administration.
Buhari gave the directive on Monday in Abuja at the inauguration of Federal Government’s Financial Transparency Policy and the opening of Treasury Portal.
Newsmen report the event coincides with International Anti-Corruption Day set aside by the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.
Represented by the Minister of State, Ministry of Niger Delta, Senator Tayo Alasoadura, Buhari specifically ordered the Treasury Office in the OAGF and all accounting officers to publish daily payments reports in the new portal.
He stressed that the daily report must provide information about what came into the national purse and what went out every single day for publication in the portal, www.opentreasury.gov.ng.
The President noted that the directive was to drive home the seriousness his administration attached to financial transparency in management of public sector fund across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government.
“Henceforth, every single transaction of government must be made public.
“The OAGF must publish a daily treasury statement which will provide information about what came into the national purse and what went out every single day.
“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 that is responsible for the payment, the beneficiary, the purpose and amount of each payment.
”The Accounting Officers must be responsible for providing answers to any question from the public relating to transactions completed by entities under their charge,” he said.
To drive home the enforcement of financial transparency across all MDAS, the President further directed them to publish monthly budget performance reports.
He said the reports must include performance of the budget in various dimensions including MDA’s functions and economic activities performed by all federal government agencies.
The President further charged the OAGF 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.
He directed that the publication must be done within 14 days after the end of each month.
On her part, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed said that the inauguration of financial transparency and open treasury portal marked another milestone in government’s effort to deepen transparency and curb corruption in public sector.
Ahmed said that the new policy and the Single Treasury Account being implemented since 2015 are inline with government resolve to fight corruption and build peoples confidence.
Ahmed said prior to approval of financial portal by the Federal Executive Council ( FEC), her ministry ensured that all MDAs got sensitised to the new financial policy.
She disclosed that the portal was developed in-house, not by any Consultant, stressing that the government expected full compliance not later than three months. The minister also disclosed that the ministry had put complaint committee on the implementation, compliance and effectiveness.
