The Federal Government said it saved over N200 billion after eliminating ghost workers from the Federal Civil Service.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo made the disclosure yesterday in his keynote address at the ongoing Open Government Partnership (OGP) week in Abuja.
While commending the political will of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to fight corruption, Osinbajo, who represented his principal at the event, reeled out the achievements recorded so far in the anti-corruption war.
The first, according to him, was to stop grand corruption and the accompanying impunity while the second step and the “more enduring one is what this week is about, creating a self-sustaining system that assures transparency and accountability.”
He said although the present administration inherited a Treasury Single Account (TSA) system, it existed mainly as an idea, without the appetite for serious implementation.
“Since we assumed office three years ago, we have made remarkable progress in pushing the frontiers of transparency and accountability in the Federal Government.
“One of the first things the president did when we took office was to establish the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) to co-ordinate our reforms in this regard.
“Since the Presidential Order by President Buhari in August 2015, we have made remarkable progress in expanding the reach of TSA, so that today, we are almost at 100 per cent compliance.
“The London Anti-corruption Summit in May 2016 was an important milestone for us, in our anti-corruption efforts because it helped crystallise various national commitments into an effective multinational anti-corruption coalition.
“It was at that conference that Nigeria committed to joining the OGP, and we fulfilled this commitment in July 2017 when we became the 70th country to join the OGP, an international multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving transparency, accountability, citizen participation and responsiveness to citizens through technology and innovation.
He said in joining the OGP, and developing a National Action Plan in 2016, the Federal Government also established a Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), housed in the Federal Ministry of Finance, to clean up the federal payroll and pensions systems, across all our Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). PICA’s work in this regard has helped the Federal Government save more than N200 billion by eliminating ghost workers.
“Like the TSA, we are also aggressively expanding the rollout of the Government Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), to ensure that the loopholes that enable payroll fraud are permanently blocked. PICA also oversees the whistle-blowing programme we launched in December 2016, which has seen recoveries of N7.8 billion, $378 million and £27,800 as at March 2018.
He expressed optimism at the ongoing effort to establish a public register of beneficial owners.
“It is our hope that this will help bring to an end the era of anonymous company ownership, which aids capital flight, illicit financial flows and tax evasion.
“The Nigeria Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) is working closely with the government of the United Kingdom and the Open Ownership – a global project whose aim is to build an Open Global Beneficial Ownership Register – to develop Open Ownership Data Standards to achieve this goal.
He noted that the Federal Government’s agreement with the Swiss government on the return of looted funds traced to former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, led to the remittance of $322 million in December 2017. This historic agreement also includes CSO monitoring of the utilisation of the returned asset.
Earlier in his address, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minster of Justice, Abubakar Malami, said the OGP is a global platform of domestic reformers committed to making their government more open, accountable and responsive to citizens.
“It aims to secure concrete commitments to promote transparency, fight corruption empowers citizens and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.”
The AGF disclosed that Nigeria’s National Action Plan (NAP) came about after a robust consultative process between civil society groups and government.
“It covers four thematic areas of fiscal transparency, anti-corruption, access to information and citizens’ engagement. Part of the progress is the fact that so far five states have come on board OGP. They include Kaduna, Kano, Anambra, Ebonyi and Niger. I am also delighted to inform that Kaduna State has been nominated as one of global subnational pilots. “
-Sun
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