(http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Okonjo-300x224.jpg) The Federal Government has revealed that its policy to cut down the cost of governance is already yielding the desired result as recurrent expenditure has dropped from 74.4 percent of the total budget in 2011 to 68.7 percent in 2013.
In her presentation on the mid-term achievements of the President Goodluck Jonathan Administration in the country's financial sector, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala disclosed that
Government has put in place, systems to increase efficiency in public financial management and developed an envelop system to enable Ministers prioritize uncompleted capital projects.
(http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ministers-of-finance-300x224.jpg)According to her, the Federal Government has been able to save the sum of 118.9 billion naira on payroll cost to date having identified about 46,821 ghost workers. The Finance Minister said as at January 2013, 215 (153,019 staff) Ministries,
Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of Government had been enrolled in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala who explained that the IPPIS enhances efficient personnel cost planning and budgeting as personnel cost would be based on actual verified numbers and not estimates, further disclosed that work was ongoing to bring in other 321 MDAs not yet on the IPPIS.
In addition, the Finance Minister said with the introduction of the Government Integrated Financial Management and
Information System (GIFMIS) in April 2012, 58 percent of the budget is now executed through GIFMIS, and that it would rise to 79 percent by the end of third quarter of 2013.
(http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ministerofstate-fianace-300x224.jpg)Minister of State, Finance She also stated that the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy which is a unified structure of government bank accounts that gives a consolidated view of the cash position has the participation of 93 MDAs and that Government's overdrawn position has dropped from ₦102 billion in 2011 to ₦19 billion in 2012.
In his remarks, the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku noted that the global economic meltdown affected many countries but Nigeria managed to survive it. "We must thank Dr. Okonjo-Iweala for her leadership and the stability in the economy", Maku stated.
Via: Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria