The Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Ahmed Idris, has threatened to shut out from the payment platform any agency of government that rejects accounting officers posted from his office.
Idris made the threat in Abuja when he received the management team of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, led by the Acting Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive, Dr. Aliyu Adanan.
He wondered why some agencies, which relied on the office of the AGF for the release of funds to implement their plans and programmes, would in turn reject treasury officers sent to effectively assist in managing their finances.
Idris warned Ministries, Department and Agencies of government that were in the habit of rejecting treasury officers posted to them to desist from such or be ready to face the consequences of their action.
He said, “The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation has been vested with the mandate of handling all payments and receipts on behalf of the government. It should be noted that treasury staff have been specially trained and equipped to perform these functions in the MDAs in line with financial regulations and extant rules.
“The principle of transparency and accountability, which this administration stands for, must be seen in practical terms and in line with international best practices. Accordingly, these principles do not allow one to be a judge in his own case.”
He added, “It is the role of treasury officers to manage the finance and accounts departments as well as the internal audit units in the MDAs.
“As long as you receive public funds from the government, you must allow the treasury officers to manage operations of the system and application of the funds.”
He explained that the ability of an internal auditor to perform his function was predicated on his professional independence.
“The auditor cannot be said to be independent when he is employed by and paid by the same organisation, and this leads to compromise,” Idris added.
He called on heads of government agencies that did not have treasury officers in their accounts and internal audit departments to reconsider their position and request for the deployment of the officers from his office.
Earlier, Adanan had called for the support of the Treasury to enable the office to actualise its plans and programmes for the economy.
