President Muham-madu Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade
appears to have taken off in earnest barely a week after assuming office with a
stern warning to ministers not to dabble into approving payments for
contractors.
The government came boldly yesterday with a clear
policy directive asking only the heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies,
MDAs not to abdicate their core functions to ministers who are political appointees
but to do their jobs in strict compliance with the policy guidelines of the
administration.
R-L; Former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon Justice
Dahiru Musdaher, former Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Abdulrhman Dambazu; Zamfara
State Governor, Alhaji Abdullaziz Yari Abubakar; President Muhammadu Buhari and
his personal aide, Abba Sarki during a prayer in remembrance of Late Emir of
Kano Alhaji Dr. Ado Bayero shortly after the Jumaat prayers at the National
Mosque in Abuja, yesterday. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida
The Head of Service of Civil Service of the
Federation, Mr Danladi Kifasi, made the new position of the government known at
a media briefing in Abuja.
According to the Head of Service of the Federation,
the government wants to keep the political class away from issues of finance so
that development of our country can be sustained.
He said: “If a minister travels out and payment is
due, we cannot afford to wait for the ministers to come back before we pay.”
Findings by Saturday Vanguard revealed that the HoSF
was compelled to make the clarifications following a clash between permanent
secretaries of major Federal Government ministries and former ministers in the
Jonathan government over the payment of contractors.
Saturday Vanguard learnt that most permanent
secretaries and directors of accounts in the ministries and MDAs fell out with
many of the immediate past ministers following their refusal to pay contractors
favoured by them for jobs approved and awarded through the backdoor by the
ministers in their last effort to make quick money out of the system.
The clash between a former minister and a serving
permanent secretary is said to have degenerated into a near major scandal in
one of the major Federal Government ministries in Abuja which deals with land
and development of infrastructure.
The minister was reported to have hurriedly approved
the award of many contracts for companies said to be close to him and later
ordered the permanent secretary to pay the affected contractors, an order,
which the civil servant bluntly turned down, thereby entering into the bad
books of the former minister.
To reverse the trend as the Buhari government takes
off, the HoSF, warned that henceforth, no permanent secretary should allow
themselves to be misdirected by any minister in the award and payment for
contracts.
Kifasi who cleared what he described as a
misconception of political appointees to approve payment for contracts, made it
clear that approval of payments for contracts are strictly the jurisdiction of
accounting officers or directors of the various ministries.
The Head of Service, who was apparently in support of
the refusal of permanent secretaries to pay contractors approved for payment by
out-gone ministers, explained that both the Procurement Act and extant
government circulars clearly define the roles of the civil servants relating to
contract awards and payment.
Kifasi said, “The President has said that his
administration will concentrate on policy issues and so we civil servants are
re-directing our efforts and minds towards achieving or aligning with the
president’s directive.
“Payments are normally approved by the accounting
officers. In a parastatal, it is either the managing director or the
director-general. In the ministry it is the permanent secretary and not the
minster.
“In the procurement process, ministers do not approve
either. It is the Ministerial Tenders Board that sits to consider and approve
contracts within their approval threshold. If it is beyond the Board, it goes
to the Federal Executive Council.
“The only thing a minister does is that he signs the
council memo for the procurement that goes to the Federal Executive Council.
For the Ministerial Tenders Board which is usually chaired by the Permanent
Secretary; the Permanent Secretary sends his report and the minutes of the
tenders board to the minister for his concurrence and endorsement. That is
their role
“For instance, if ministers were asked to be approving
payments, now that there are no ministers will work then stop? So it is
actually a misinformation.”
Beyond finance, the HoSF warned civil servants that
the warning by President Buhari for them to change their attitude to work
should be taken seriously as lateness to work and other acts inimical to the
service would not be tolerated any longer.
“Consequently, permanent secretaries, Directors, Chief
executives of parastatals and agencies are to take appropriate steps to address
this situation. All public servants are to note that measures as enshrined in
the Public Service Rules will be enforced on erring officers,” Kifasi warned.
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