The Minister for Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, yesterday, while reiterating Federal Government’s resolve to stop all forms of inefficiency and wastage in the utilization of the nation’s resources, cautioned civil servants against complaining of poor remuneration and using that as a basis to loot public funds.
Adeosun disclosed this during the inauguration of the Efficiency Unit in Abuja.
According to the Finance Minister, the rate at which the country’s resources had been mismanaged by past administrations was a major reason Nigeria had not recorded any significant progress in the area of capital projects.
She said, “We are going to look up all the causes that make government spending extremely inefficient and we are going to circulate those results to the agencies so that they will get a circular saying this is on paper and if you go above it, the Permanent Secretary or whoever is approving it needs to have a reason for doing so.
“We are setting a benchmark; at the moment, there are no guidelines; and where there are no guidelines, there is no sin. So, we need to establish those guidelines to guide how people spend money.
“We cannot justify stealing and say because my salary is low so it justifies stealing. Not everybody steals and not everybody is willing to steal, and stealing is not a way to address low remuneration. Stealing is stealing and it is a crime; you cannot steal and say because my salary is low that was why I stole; what about people who have no salaries?
“Stealing is stealing and we must address it. It is not acceptable. We need to address it and we will do so very aggressively. There is no excuse for stealing.”
Adeosun observed that fiscal innovation, financial re-engineering or other economic policies can only deliver the desired results if government spending was adequately controlled.
Lamenting on the effect of corruption to the economy, Adeosun insist that little attention was being given to the damaging effects of inefficiency and wastage.
The Minister noted that a review conducted by the ministry revealed wide variations in terms of costs between departments within agencies due to lack of guidelines regarding spending of funds.
Adeosun added, “In the few weeks I have spent as the Minister of Finance, it has become clear that without a radical intervention to manage the costs of government, no meaningful improvement in our nation will be forthcoming.
“No amount of fiscal innovation, financial re-engineering or other well intentioned economic policies will deliver the desired results for as long as the manner in which government’s money is expended is not carefully controlled.
“We need to put the fiscal house in order. Inefficient spending is systematic and very hard to identify since it is often embedded in the day-to-day activities of the government.”
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