The Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris FCNA stated that the reform initiatives all over the world are aimed at improving governance for efficiency and effectiveness.
He made this assertion when the Director General of Bureau of Public Service Reform (BPSR) Mr. Dasuki Arabi and his Management team paid a courtesy visit to the Treasury House, Abuja.
Ahmed congratulated Mr. Dasuki Arabi on his appointment as the Director-General of BPSR and that under his leadership, he has carried out good reforms in the Public Service, for him OAGF and BPSR have a common goal of making Nigeria change for better. According to him reform initiatives is to move away from old ways of doing things to a modern way.
AGF acknowledged the various reform drives of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation which include but not limited to; Treasury Single Account (TSA), International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS), implementation of Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS), Audit modernization and Government Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS).
The Audit modernization is aimed at making Audit more scientific by moving from analogue to a more digitized way of Auditing. This is a departure from the old ways of file transfer and Audit record check in the usual conventional analogue form, he added.
Therefore, the next level of Audit checking is ready, the department has well trained staff, web based Audit laboratory filled with computers.
Ahmed Idris appreciated the Director-General of BPSR in grading the OAGF 90% in ranking for their reform initiatives and their zeal to do more, he promised to explore other areas that would benefit both Agencies because the office clearly understand its mandate in reform initiatives. ‘’ Being a coordinating Agency, BPSR would face challenges in the course of the reforms hence OAGF is ever ready to cooperate and partner with them in capacity building and training’’ he stated.
In his remarks, Mr. Dasuki Arabi, Director-General of BPSR thanked the AGF for posting a Director of Finance and Accounts to BPSR who has through his experience turned around the accounting system in BPSR and above all, the Financial Autonomy given to the BPSR by AGF Ahmed Idris FCNA.
Dasuki said that due to the need for a one-stop shop where reform information can be obtained, BPSR was set up in 2004 to serve as engine room and center for coordination of reforms among the MDAs, stating that there were pockets of reforms being carried out in different MDAs before BPSR came on board.
He stated that, BPSR has a Steering Committee on Reform chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and assisted by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and other members which include Accountant-General of the Federation.
Director-General of BPSR said that the main role of the Steering Committee is to guide BPSR to do better, adding that members of the committee are heads of centers and key agencies of Government that have a lot to do in reforms. According to him, ‘’the reports of the activities are given to the Steering Committee for validation, approval, and corrections hence, members are expected to send memos and progress reports on the various reforms initiatives in their MDAs.’’