Further, all cheques-in-transit must get to either the Central Bank or the commercial banks by June or they will not be honoured. These disclosures were made yesterday in Abuja by the Accountant-General of the Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo, who said they were in pursuit of government’s e-payment initiative to curb corruption in government businesses.
Dankwambo emphasized: “Any cheque dated January 28, 2009 will not be honoured. All transit cheques must reach either CBN or commercial banks by June otherwise, they will not be honoured.”
The Accountant-General told Directors of Finance and Accounts in the employ of the Federal Government as well as other stakeholders at a meeting that the e-payment implementation had commenced in line with a Treasury circular issued last October.
His words: “My office as a first step issued a Treasury Circular No: TRY/A&B8/2008 OAGF/CAD/026/026/Vol./11/465 of October 22, 2008 on Implementation of e-payment from Funds of the Federal Government of Nigeria which made it mandatory for all MDAs and Agencies of Government to commence the e-payment on January 21, 2009.
“This was followed by detailed implementation guidelines for e-payment from all funds of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The objective was to clarify the issues in the treasury circular. I went further and signed a letter to the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria to direct all commercial banks to dishonour all cheques issued and dated from January 1, 2009 as a demonstration of the commitment of the Federal Government in this regard.”
According to Alhaji Dankwambo, yesterday’s interactive meeting was to create avenue for questions and clarifications as he said that his office had been inundated with queries on the implementation of the e-payment directive.
“This meeting has become very necessary because of the feedback I have received from various meetings between my office, Central Bank of Nigeria, commercial banks and other stakeholders. In addition, after commencement, MDAs troop in daily to seek one clarification or the other on the operations of e-payment”, he said.
He added that by June, all capital accounts will be mopped up and credited to the Consolidated Revenue and that the system would squarely address the problem of corruption in government businesses.
In his remarks, Mr Emmanuel Aondoakaa of the Treasury Office further clarified that the government wanted to eliminate all forms of personal contact through the use of information technology which would make tracking of payments easier.
“The greatest enemy to development is corruption. There is no development, not because there are no resources but because of corruption. The e-payment will assist EFCC, ICPC and the audit to trace transactions for government. It will improve the quality of financial reports. Once there is economic development, we will have wealth redistribution.”
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Emma Ujah
Quelle/Source: Vanguard, 29.01.2009
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