Whistleblowing, recovery policies saved Nigeria N700bn —FG

The Federal Government has claimed that its whistleblowing policy and embarking on a number of reforms through the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning had enabled it save more than N700 billion.

Mohammed Dikwa, the outgoing Permanent Secretary (Special Duties), Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, made the disclosure Friday at a send-forth dinner put together by the ministry in his honour.

He said “Reform initiatives have saved the country over N700billion from being wasted and also recovered over N300billlon through respective Security Agencies working in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.”

Dikwa highlighted some of the public financial management reforms of the government to include Treasury Single Account, Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), Efficiency Unit, Whistleblowing Policy, Asset Tracing Project and Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative (SRGI).

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He stated that the steady improvement recorded by the FG in the economy was attributable to the introduction and implementation of the above reforms.

Dr Dikwa affirmed that he played a key role in making some of the initiatives a success even as he served for 35 years with an impeccable reputation.

He said “Despite holding sensitive positions both at the State and Federal levels with series of temptations from various individuals, groups and societies both within and outside the public service, today I can proudly say that there was no single query issued to me either as a result of misconduct, gross misconduct or inefficiency observed in the course of discharging my statutory responsibilities to my dear nation as a civil servant.”

He detailed his achievement to include contributing to nation building via instilling discipline, accountability and prudent management of limited resources.

He went further to say he was responsible for the successful verification and payment of pensioners of the defunct Nigeria Airways after the task was assigned to him by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

He enjoined his former co-workers in the civil service to devise plans to check leakages and wastage, and boost efficiency in the public sector.

“In order to save more funds for developmental purposes, I urge all members of staff of the Ministry of Finance to give maximum support to my successor.

“As I bow out from the service today, I want to challenge those coming after me to pick up the baton from where I stopped and stand together to ensure commitment to the responsibilities and mandates of the ministry,” he stated.

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