The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, has said President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that federal workers be paid on 25 of every month is hampered by lack of cash.
A statement by the Deputy Director of Press, Mrs Kene Offie, in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), reads: “There is an instruction from Mr. President that workers be paid on or before 24 or 25, but compliance has been hampered by the limited resources available to government, which can only be determined after the monthly FAAC (Federation Account Allocation Committee) meeting”.
FAAC usually meets between 20 and 25 of every month.
The AGF said: “The Federal Government is working out modalities to ensure that Federal Government workers are paid early, in line with the directive of Mr. President”.
According to Mr. Idris, the Federal Government took steps to make provision to accommodate salary payment even before FAAC, stating that “this would be given a test this month”.
He also promised that his office would ensure that it complies with the presidential directive to pay salaries on or before 24 or 25.
On the over N2.7 trillion recovered on the Treasury Single Account (TSA) platform, the AGF said it belongs to Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDA) and not for sharing or for any other purposes as reported in some quarters.
The TSA “has helped government to have a firm and full control of its resources, blocking leakages, helping it to reduce the cost of borrowing and to monitor spending in the MDAs”, he added.
