Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, on Sunday described as misleading, a news report that the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant of the Federation (OAGF) do not adhere to the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
A statement by Oluyinka Akintunde, her Special Adviser, Media & Communications, also denounced as false, claims that both establishments have not put in place an annual cash plan for every financial year for the purpose of implementing the Appropriation Act.
The statement also refuted unambiguously “the entire misconceived report by the online medium and states that both the Federal Ministry of Finance and the OAGF have always complied with the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) as required by Section 22 of the FRA.”
Similarly, the Minister said the OAGF has always prepared a cash plan for payment on a daily and month basis as well as revised it periodically and that both the cash payment and revised plans are presented to the Cash Management Committee chaired by the Minister of Finance.
Members of the Cash Management Committee were listed as: 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 Federal Ministry of Finance; a representative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); and some support staff from the Ministry, OAGF and Budget Office.
The Minister further explained “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. This implies that the cash plan must be prepared, reviewed and finalized on the GIFMIS before any disbursement could be made whether personnel, overheads or capital expenditure related.
“The decisions on disbursement to projects are also taken and approved by the Cash Management Committee,” the statement added.