The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Dr. Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, has urged the World Bank’s board to expedite the approval and disbursement of project funds to Nigeria, stressing that the facilities are loans that the country is obliged to repay and not grants.
The AGF made the appeal in Abuja when theAccountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Dr. Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, , led a delegation of the bank on a during a courtesy visit to his office in Abuja.
Ogunjimi emphasized that, as a responsible borrower, Nigeria deserved timely consideration and processing of its funding requests to support the country’s development priorities.
According to him, prolonged delays in the approval process could undermine the government’s interest in accessing such facilities.
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The AGF said: “If approvals take more than six months, the Nigerian Government may no longer honour such arrangements.”
Ogunjimi further told the World Bank’s delegation that his office had commenced action on critical issues earlier raised by the World Bank, particularly in the areas of public financial management statements and audit reporting.
For instance, he disclosed that the 2023 Audit Report would be submitted to the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation within two weeks, while work on the 2024 and 2025 audit reports is already in progress.
The AGF also assured the delegation that concerns relating to the digitalisation of the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) were being addressed by the Federal Government, as obsolete infrastructure is currently being replaced with modern technology to improve public financing efficiency and service delivery.
Earlier in her remarks, the leader of the World Bank team, congratulated the AGF on his recent appointment as the African Chairman of the Association of Accountants-General.
She further encouraged the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) to sustain its efforts toward digitalising its operations and ensuring the timely presentation of professional financial statements to the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation to strengthen seamless public financial management processes.
Photo Caption
The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Dr. Shamseldeen Ogunjimi and Manager of the World Bank, Mrs. Treed Lane, when she led a delegation of the World Bank on a courtesy visit to the AGF in the OAGF in Abuja
