By Nduka Chiejina
The Federal Government is ready to partner stakeholders with valuable ideas that can help it consolidate the gains of its financial reforms.
Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, made pledge in Abuja when he received the Partners of Ernst and Young (EY) led by the Advisory Leader (West Africa) Mr. Ben Afudego, in his office.
The AGF said his office was open to value addition, and with EY, and that it could be achieved.
But he advised against a generalised approach, stressing: “the OAGF does not want a generalised approach, we want specifics. No more talking and meeting, we want to achieve results”.
Idris, whose office anchors the Federal Government’s financial management reforms, noted that the success of the initiatives is hinged on implementation of result-oriented ideas.
He called on stakeholders that could add value to government’s effort to come forward with their ideas.
Ahmed Idris also advocated for strong collaboration between some Treasury Departments and EY Consulting to drive government reforms with the application of technology as he advises for specific areas and not the generalized style of approach.
“We are open to new ideas, we are open to value addition, we believe if we get critical stakeholders, we can achieve even more successes in the reform initiatives”, he said.
He noted that individuals not directly involved in the implementation of the reforms are in a better position to assess the efforts of the Federal Government. He expressed government’s readiness to accept ideas that would help correct whatever anomaly is observed.
Idris maintained that the government will continue to turn its back on individuals whose approach to issues are considered incapable of meeting government’s objectives.
“As much as we want improvements in our system and value addition, we don’t want generalized approach, we want specific approach. Come up with specific things you can do to add value, we want results”, he said.
In his response speech, Mr. Ben Afudego who led the team, said EY would want to work with the OAGF in Revenue Protection and Improvement, Asset Tracking and Monitoring, Continuous Process Improvement, Data Analytics, Digital and other priority areas of the OAGF.
He also outlined several solutions developed by EY such as Strategic planning and fiscal policy, budget process improvement, revenue administration reforms, treasury modernization and reform, performance monitoring, evaluation and management which are geared towards addressing all aspect of Public Financial Management (PFM).
He added that the approach adopted by EY “follows an integrated model which is structured around the budget cycle to support accurate and timely decision making”.
He also disclosed that EY is one of the leading Consultants for World Bank and many African countries.
Similarly, Mr. Joe Cosma, one of the Partners of EY called for investment in systems and sustained efforts in building the systems.
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