The Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Dr. Oluwatoyin Madein, has said that transparency and accountability should be entrenched at all tiers and aspects of governance in the country to enhance fiscal discipline and improved performance of yearly budgets.
Madein, who made this remark at the 2024 National Council on Finance and Economic Development (NACOFED) Conference held in Bauchi State, explained transparency and accountability should not be solely about finances or financial managers or other resources, but includes human resources that had to be accounted for in governance.
She clarified: “Transparency doesn’t end with finances, it goes round to even the store keeper and those that manage the kitchen. Infrastructure has to be accounted for, everything that can be used indiscriminately, must be properly accounted for in a transparent manner.
“If we only build structures around how finances can be controlled, and leave the other areas without much control mechanism, then we are just doing haphazard job. We need to build serious control measures around our assets”, the AGF added.
She noted that it had become imperative for persons in positions of authority to adequately account for assets that are procured through public funds.
Madein explained: “When funds are released for the purpose of increasing assets of the government, those assets must be accounted for by those that are handling them.”
This is even as she stressed the need for continuous capacity building and motivation of the work force, noting that this was of utmost importance in ensuring transparency and accountability in managing public assets.
On fiscal discipline, the Accountant-General advised governments at all levels to adopt appropriate control measures and imbibe the culture of savings and viable investments to guarantee availability of financial and other resources during the rainy day.
She maintained that “savings is good and savings at the time of plenty is advisable. Governments at all levels should save from whatever comes to them so that they can have what to fall back to in any adverse situation.”
Photo Caption
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun; flanked by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Lydia Jafiya (left); and the Accountant General of the Federation, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Madein, during the 2024 NACOFED held in Bauchi State
