Nigeria’s Finance Minister,Kemi Adeosun has debunked a report that her Ministry and the Office of the Accountant of the Federation (OAGF) have always failed to comply with Fiscal Responsibility Act.
A statement by Oluyinka Akintunde, Special Adviser, Media & Communications to the Hon. Minister of Finance insisted “the Federal Ministry of Finance and the OAGF have always complied with the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) as required by Section 22 of the FRA
Adesoun’s media aide said, “The attention of the Honourable Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has been drawn to a misleading report by an online medium, Premium Times that the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant of the Federation (OAGF) failed to adhere to the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
“The online medium further falsely alleged that the Federal Ministry of Finance and the OAGF do not have an annual cash plan for every financial year for the purpose of implementing the Appropriation Act.
“ The Honourable Minister wishes to unambiguously refute the entire misconceived report by the online medium and states that both the Federal Ministry of Finance and the OAGF have always complied with the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) as required by Section 22 of the FRA.
“ The OAGF has always prepared a cash plan for payment on a daily and month basis as well as revised it periodically. Both cash payment plan and revised plan are presented to the Cash Management Committee presided over by the Minister of Finance. Members of the Cash Management Committee include: the Honourable Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Accountant General of the Federation, Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Director-General of the Debt Management Office, Director of Cash Management Department in the Federal Ministry of Finance, a representative of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and some support staff from the Ministry, OAGF and Budget Office.
“The Honourable Minister further wishes to elucidate that the Federal Government’s cash payment platform, the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) makes it mandatory that a cash plan must be in place. This implies that the cash plan must be prepared, reviewed and finalized on the GIFMIS before any disbursement could be made whether personnel, overheads or capital expenditure related.
“The decisions on disbursement to projects are also taken and approved by the Cash Management Committee.
