By joshua Increased FAAC: Make Every Kobo Work For Kogi People, Financial Expert Tells Govt At PFM Workshop
A financial management expert and Managing Director of Ultimate Management Consultancy Services Limited, Dr. Lawal Itopa Lamidi, FCA, has charged the Kogi State Government to ensure that increased FAAC allocations translate into visible accountability, transparency and impact for the people.
Dr. Lamidi gave the charge on Monday in Lokoja while delivering his opening address at the Workshop on Public Financial Management Reforms in Nigeria organized for Kogi State Accountants and Auditors.
He said Nigeria’s public financial management landscape has changed fundamentally in the last decade with reforms such as Treasury Single Account, TSA, Government Integrated Financial Management Information System, GIFMIS, Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, IPPIS, IPSAS Accrual, Open Treasury Portal and the Fiscal Sustainability Plan redefining how public money should be raised, spent and reported.
“Systems and technology alone do not reform a state. People, ethics and political will reform a state,” he said.
According to him, with subsidy removal and exchange rate unification, FAAC allocations to States have increased by over 200% in the last two years, including Kogi State, and citizens are now asking where the money is.
“This workshop is timely. Increased revenue must translate to increased accountability, increased transparency and increased impact. If money increases and accountability does not increase, we are only digitalizing waste. As accountants and auditors, you are the gatekeepers of public trust,” Dr. Lamidi stated.
He commended Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo for what he described as commonsensical and people-centred leadership anchored on three fundamentals of good governance – prompt payment of workers’ salaries and pensions which has restored dignity to labour, prioritization of staff welfare and capacity building, and sustained investment in security architecture.
“Your Excellency, you have laid a solid foundation. What we are doing here today is to help you build a stronger accountability structure on that foundation,” he said.
The Managing Director also commended the Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning, Alhaji Mukadam Asiwaju Asiru Idris, for his professionalism and technical depth in managing the state’s finances, the Auditor-General of the State, Alhaji Yakubu Yusuf Okala, for remaining an epitome of accountability, probity and courage, and the Director-General of Confluence Management Services, Madam Mariam Abedo, as a good change agent and symbol of integrity.
He said with the leadership team and the crop of professionals in Kogi, the state has the human capital needed to be a model in PFM compliance in Nigeria.
Dr. Lamidi urged the State Government to sustain the model by prioritizing welfare through visible translation of FAAC increases into improved schools, hospitals and roads, addressing youth unemployment frontally by investing in enterprise development, agriculture value chain, skills acquisition and MSMEs with auditable frameworks, and strengthening Community-based, Multi-stakeholder Security Solutions anchored on intelligence, technology and youth engagement.
“Over the next two days, my team and I will not just teach you PFM reforms. We will challenge you to be the conscience of Kogi State. To say NO when it is wrong, to document when it is right, and to ensure that every kobo that enters Kogi State works for Kogi people,” he charged participants.