FG Assures Payment Of Salaries Before Christmas, To Upgrade Financial Management

The office of the Accountant General of the
Federation (AGF) says it is upgrading the
Government Integrated Financial Management
Information System (GIFMIS) to ensure payment of
December salary before Christmas.
The Director of Funds in the office, Mr Mohammed
Dikwa, stated this in an interview with the News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja on
the sideline of a one-day workshop on the Treasury
Single Account and e-payment/collection.
Dikwa said that the system would be shut down over
the weekend for the upgrade.
“The essence of the shut down is for maintenance.
Some people complained that they couldn’t have
access over the last few weeks because of the queue
management challenge.
“We want to upgrade the infrastructure that we
have over the weekend so that by Monday next week
all payments will go on smoothly.
“If you look at the trend, people find it difficult to
have access easily because the infrastructure was not
strong enough to effectively handle the queue
management.
“But with the new improvement, the system will be
easily accessed, there will be seamless transactions,
and people will get their money before Christmas
particularly salaries and other financial commitments
of government.
“I want to assure all Federal civil servants that, God
willing, they will get their salaries before Christmas
because we will try as much as possible to pay the
salaries before that time.
“We hope to have the Federation Account Allocation
Committee meeting much more earlier and that will
give us the room to have more money into the
consolidated revenue of the federal government that
will be used for the purpose of paying salaries and
other commitments of government as far as this
financial year is concerned.’’
Earlier at the workshop, Dikwa, who represented the
AGF, Alhaji Ahmed Idris, said that the maintenance
was to enhance the capability of the system to
address the issue of queue management and other
associated operational challenges.
NAN reports that GIFMIS is an information
technology based system for budget management and
accounting that is being implemented by the federal
government.
The aim is to improve public expenditure
management processes and to enhance greater
accountability and transparency across ministries
and agencies.
In her remarks at the workshop, the acting Head of
the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Wilnifred
Oyo-Ita, said the workshop was an opportunity for
stakeholders to deliberate on the challenges
associated with the TSA implementation.
Oyo-Ita, who was represented by the Permanent
Secretary in her office, Mr Yemi Adelakun, said that
the outcome of the workshop would provide the
much needed feedback for policy evaluation and
review.
NAN reports that the workshop was organised by Jk
Consulting Company Limited in collaboration with
the Office of the Account-General of the Federation.
It participants included senior account officers and
internal auditors of ministries, departments and
agencies of the federal government. (NAN)