By Adewale Sanyaolu
The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has denied that the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) failed to comply with the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA).
A statement from the Ministry quoted Adeosun as accusing an online medium of alleging 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 attention of the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has been drawn to a misleading report by an online medium, that the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant of the Federation (OAGF) failed to adhere to the FRA.
“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 statement said.
The Ministry, while refuting the entire report by the online medium, stated that both the Federal Ministry of Finance and the OAGF have always complied with the FRA as required by Section 22 of the FRA.
In providing further insight on the allegations by the online medium, Adeosun explained that the OAGF has always prepared a cash plan for payment on a daily and monthly basis as well as revised it periodically.
According to her, both cash payment plan and revised plan are presented to the Cash Management Committee (CMC) presided over by the Minister of Finance. members of the committee, including the 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 (DMO), Director of Cash Management Department in the Ministry of Finance, a representative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and some support staff from the Ministry, OAGF and Budget Office.
Adeosun elucidated 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, which in effect, means that the cash plan must be prepared, reviewed and finalised on the GIFMIS before any disbursement could be made whether personnel, overheads or capital expenditure related.
She stated further that the decisions on disbursement to projects are also taken and approved by the CMC.