The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Mallam Ahmed Idris, says over N37 billion has been saved from misapplications, paddings, mistakes and non-compliance by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to the agreed template of promotion arrears payment.
A statement by Mr Oise Johnson, Head, Press and Publicity, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), it was gathered, made this known on Tuesday in Abuja.
According to him, Idris gave the figure when he received the National Executive of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) on a courtesy visit.
Idris said that following President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that N10 billion be set aside monthly, commencing from May 2017 to offset backlog of promotion arrears, the OAGF inaugurated an in-house committee to verify Ministries, Departments and Agencies’ (MDAs) claims and submissions.
“So far, the committee has paid out the sum of N42 billion out of the N55 billion released, leaving an outstanding of N13 billion in cash while a total of N35 billion is yet to be released to the office.”
He, however, reassured civil servants of the commitment of the OAGF in line with the president’s directives to the continued payment of promotion arrears owed federal civil servants.
He also promised to bring the concerns of the association to the notice of the Minister of Finance and dialogue with the Director-General, Budget Office, to ensure that government continued to keep its part of the agreement reached with the association to ensure industrial harmony.
Idris commended the leadership of the association for its understanding and support in the implementation of government plans and programmes, adding that without industrial harmony, no meaningful development could be achieved.
