While pondering on Chinua Achebe’s deep reflections on Nigeria; the literary aristocrat and highly respected man of letters, whose love for humanity found its deepest and most profound expression in his commitment to social justice said “Nigeria is a country that manages to snatch defeat from the Jaws of victory”.
Standing tall to conquer the fear of defeat in a country, seriously touted for its reforms to meet the challenges of the new global order is Alhaji Ibrahim Mohammed Bomoi, the Director of Treasury of the Federal Capital Territory Administration.
Unlike many generational professionals who are empty or at best lacking in basic requirement of their working capitals, Bomoi stood for the highest Principles of honour and dignity as his commitment to hard work, dedication to duty and above all tireless pursuit of excellence in the accounting process places him shoulder high among his peers in financial administration in Nigeria.
The Director of Treasury who assumed office 5 years ago at the FCDA has had several awards and commendation letters to his credit for diligence, transparency, accountability and clinical record keeping of the treasury with yearly audited reports on the FCT’s Financial Statement by the Auditor-General of the Federation.
Writing a testimonial on the 2013 audited report on Bomoi, S.T. Ukura, Auditor General of the Federation opined “I have obtained the information and explanations that I required and as a result of my audit, in my opinion, the accounting books and records were properly maintained so as to form the basis for the statement of Assets and liabilities, as at 31st December, 2013 and the consolidated Revenue Fund together with the supporting statements for the year ended on that date”.
In this era of democratic governance were corruption and monumental looting of the public till seems to pervade most segments of Financial Institutions nationwide, Bomoi got a clean bill of “health” from the Auditor-General who said “In my opinion, the Financial notes give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Federal Capital Territory Administration as at 31st December, 2013 and of the Financial transactions for the Fiscal year ended on that date subject to the observations contained in my Domestic Report”.
The Director of Treasury who hails from Potiskum, Yobe State has a Master Degree in Business Administration (finance) from AbubakarTafawaBalewa University, Bauchi and also attended the prestigious Harvard University, Cambridge, Boston, USA and the London School of Management, London UK.
With 32 years working experience in the Federal Civil Service, the Director is a well-grounded technocrat in Financial matters who worked with six different Ministers in the Federal Capital Technology Administration. With several certificates in Public Financial Management, Advanced Auditing and Public Administration, Bomoi is also a fellow, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of treasury management in Nigeria and a powerful member of Institute of Management specialist, UK, member, Nigeria Institute of management and member, Nigeria Institute of management consultants.
As an accomplished financial mogul that is emotional in building solid Financial Institutions, devoid of generational corruption and under development, Bomoi’s tenacity and transparency in financial matters got the attention of many organizations who bestored on him several awards in recent times.
With about a dozen awards under his kitty, with one, lately given by African expression News Media on Good Leadership and another Distinguished Meritous Services award (Gold) by African Independence Magazine, Bomoi, though a silent achiever, is celebrated by both friends and foes for his feat in financial matters. While some fifth columnists are deliberately working in close league with some political detractors to malign a solidly built reputation over three decades, it is worthy to note that the Director of Treasury does not have the powers to award contracts nor does he have the capacity to effect payments on any job done without approvals from superior authorities.
Afraid of the rising profile of professionalism and the spectre of the powers of accountability, some professional coupon clippers and kneejerk reactionaries have embarked on deliberate campaigns of calumny to bring down the Director but have however met little or no success in their dubious assignment.
Commenting on the activities of the Director since assumption of office, Chief Emmanuel Ehikwe, Chairman, Indigenous Contractors Association in the FCDA said “The Director is God sent at this period of our country’s history to ameliorate the problems faced by local contractors in the FCT”.
With an outstanding bill of about N2 billion naira owed the local contractors by the FCDA, the Director has been doing his best to offset our liabilities without any strings attached” he said.
In a similar vein, Sir Martins Ezendu (KSJ) the Financial Secretary of the Contractors Association has commended the Director for outstanding financial management in this period of economic meltdown. He said “The man has high passion for Local Contractors and the downtrodden as he has been doing his best to see that the Local Contractors are kept in business without conditions or strings attached.
He said “A part from several awards by different organizations, we tried to appreciate his work ethics with gifts but he flatly rejected it. It is therefore funny for our Association to hear side talks or negative comments on the Director as he does his job diligently with the fear of God”.
He said “The Director of Treasury has never been found wanting by any investigative panel or any constituted authority vested with such responsibilities and as such it looks like comedy of errors for any detractor to place negative comments on the shoulders of the Director of treasury”.
Ibrahim Modibbo
Writers from Uromi Street,
Garki Abuja.
