Opinion
By Uchechukwu Iwuchukwu
THE Accountant General of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwudi Okoli has concluded tour of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the state aimed at strengthening the Financial Administration of the sectors.
The tour was necessitated by financial lapses recorded by the State Auditor General in his Management Report of the State Financial Audited Annual Account Publication.
In each of the visits, the Accountant General spoke on issues bothering on financial management as it concerned the MDAs.
He emphasized among other things, the issue of approval of funds which according to him, the Permanent Secretary is the Chief Accounting Officer of the Ministries but approval of fund must come from the Commissioner.
“Therefore the commissioner must work hand-in-hand with the Permanent Secretary for the approval of funds.’’
Emphasizing the issue of due process in financial administration, the Accountant General maintained that approved funds must be properly retired and timely too.
He reiterated that when funds were not properly retired, there could be dire consequences of deducting the money from the salaries of the concerned officers which definitely would not go down well with those concerned.
Making reference to the lapses recorded by the Auditor General, the Accountant General said that the Internal Auditor of each Ministry has a crucial role to play in the validation of payments.
He noted that it will help to reduce to its minimal level the issue of financial mal-administration in the Ministries as well as help the Ministries to run a hitch-free financial administration.
The Accountant General further reiterated the importance of the Store Unit in every MDA.
“All assets procured or purchased items must be properly received by the Store Officer who in turn keeps record of all, issues store receipt vouchers and documents all assets.
“The Store exists in order to check lapses in the area of assets and procurements. For this I plead with the Head of Service to send Store Officers to various MDAs.
“As it is presently, there are lapses in the deduction of taxes from awarded contracts; government loses a lot of revenue in this aspect.
“To avoid such occurrences, taxes must be deducted in contract payments; contracts must be awarded after due scrutiny of at least three biddings from different bidders.’’
In the case of discarding old items in the offices through sales, the Accountant General said that such monies realized should be paid directly to the government’s account and not ministry’s account.
He maintained that paying such monies into the account of the ministries is tantamount to financial mal-administration, advising all MDAs to be properly guided in this area to avoid being labeled in a bad light by the government.
Stressing on the importance of acting according to the financial rules of the State, Dr. Okoli instructed that the MDAs should ensure that at the end of every year, every contracts of the ministry is completed.
“As every unspent monies will be mopped up which will serve as an off-shoot in the preparation of the budget of the following year.’’
The reactions of the Heads of various MDAs showed that the tour was a welcome development.
The Head of Service (HOS), Barr. Theodora Okwy Igwegbe commended the Accountant General and his team for the sensitization and admitted that the essence of the tour was to improve smooth running of the system, promising to adhere to all that he had outlined.
The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Sylvia Ifemeje expressed gratitude to the Accountant General for opening their eyes and for the sensitization which she admitted came in due time in order to sanitize the system.
The Commissioner for Information, Sir Paul Nwosu also commended the Accountant General on the tour and promised that the ministry would continue to adhere to due process in its financial administration and management. (Ministry of Information)
The information officer reports from Accountant General’s Office, Awka
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September 18, 2023 @ 21:23 GMT|
Tags: Dr. Chukwudi Okoli Theodora Okwy Igwegbe
