The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF) Ahmed Idris, on Monday disclosed that the Federal Government had so far saved about N230 billion over the past three years of the implementation of Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) in the public service.
Idris gave this hint while he was defending his office’s budget before the Senate Committee on Finance.
Specifically, he confirmed that during the period, total sums of N50 billion, N100 billion and N80 billion were saved in 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively from the implementation of the technology-based payroll system.
He said the money realised would have been lost to fictitious payment of salaries and pensions.
He expressed optimism that when workers in public universities and polytechnics get enrolled on the IPPIS payment platform as being planned now through the Public Finance Reform Initiative, more funds would be saved for government.
According to him, workers in those tertiary institutions would be compelled to submit to government decision mandating them to come on the IPPIS platform in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive in his 2020 budget speech that all federal government workers must be enlisted.
In his comments, the committee’s chairman, Senator Solomon Olamilekan, commended the Office of the Accountant General for sundry reform initiatives in the nation’s public finance system.
He, however, advised the AGF to ensure that efforts to boost government’s revenues are intensified by the revenue generating agencies in order to meet the N3.17 trillion target set in the “Other Revenues” sub-head of the 2020 budget proposal.
The IPPIS Project, which implementation commenced in April 2007, is an technology-powered payroll system initiated by the Federal Government to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of payroll administration for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
According to the IPPIS Office, the project has its vision as “to have a centralised payroll system that meet the needs of FGN employees and helps the Government to plan and manage payroll budget by ensuring proper control of personnel cost.”
