The Accountant General of the Federation, Dr. Oluwatoyin Madein, has said that transparency and accountability should be entrenched at all tiers  and aspects of governance in the country. 

The Accountant General of the Federation spoke at the 2024 National Council on Finance and Economic Development (NACOFED) held in Bauchi State.

According to her, transparency and accountability should not be solely about finances or financial mangers;  other resources, including human resources, have to be accounted for. 

“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”, she said.  

Dr Madein said, “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.”

She noted that  it has become imperative for persons in positions of authority to adequately account for assets that are procured through public funds.

“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”, she said. 

The AGF emphasised 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,  Dr Madein 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 rainny day. 

“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”, she said.

His open door policy to everyone with innovative ideas, so as to serve the purposes for which they were established.

The Director-General of FERMA, Engr. Chukwuemeka Agbasi and the Surveyor-General of the Federation, Abduganiyu Adebomehin, , as well as the South-East Representative on the Board of FERMA, Dr. Kenneth Ugbala, separately promised, on behalf of the Agencies, to work in collaboration with the Honourable Ministers in order to serve the entire nation efficiently and committedly, as well as strive to achieve the priorities of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President,  Bola  Tinubu.

Also in attendance were the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Works, Yakubu Adam Kofarmata, Ph.D and Directors of the Ministry.

After the formal introduction and handing over ceremony, the Minister of State held a maiden Management meeting with the Agencies, where he drummed up the idea of creating innovative financing models to free up their dependence on budgetary resources from the Federal Government. He also asked the Chief Executive Officers of the two entities to furnish him with their work plans, as well as itineraries for familiarization visits.