By James Emejo and Folalumi Alaran
The Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, has welcomed contributions from stakeholders to help consolidate gains of the ongoing financial management reforms initiatives by the federal government.
Speaking when he received Partners of Ernst and Young (EY), led by the Advisory Leader (West Africa) Mr. Ben Afudego, in his office, the AGF, commended the consulting firm, adding that his office remained open to value addition.
He, however, advised against what he termed a generalised approach, stressing that, “The OAGF does not want a generalised approach, we want specifics. No more talking and meeting, we want to achieve results.”
Idris, whose office anchors the federal government’s financial management reforms, also pointed out that the overall success of the initiatives was hinged on implementation of result-oriented ideas and called on stakeholders to contribute meaningfully to the government’s efforts.
In a statement by Director Information, Press and Public Relations, OAGF, Mr. Henshaw Ogubike, the AGF, advocated for strong collaboration between some treasury departments and EY to drive government reforms with the application of technology in specific areas.
He said: “We are open to new ideas, we are open to value addition, we believe if we get critical stakeholders, we can achieve even more successes in the reform initiatives.”
He said individuals not directly involved in the implementation of the reforms are in a better position to assess the efforts of the federal government.
He expressed government’s readiness to accept ideas that would help correct whatever anomaly is observed, adding that government will continue to turn its back on individuals whose approach to issues is considered incapable of meeting government’s objectives.
Idris said: “As much as we want improvements in our system and value addition, we don’t want generalized approach, we want specific approach. Come up with specific things you can do to add value, we want results”.
Afudego, however, said EY will want to work with the OAGF in revenue protection and improvement, asset tracking and monitoring, continuous process improvement, data analytics, digital and other priority areas of the treasury.
He also identified several solutions developed by the firm including strategic planning and fiscal policy, budget process improvement, revenue administration reforms, treasury modernisation and reform among others.
According to him, the approach follows an integrated model which is structured around the budget cycle to support accurate and timely decision making.
