In January of this year, there was a lot of talk about the ghostworkers
syndrome in the country with some very heavy, almost depressing, figures
reeled out detailing how much the government had lost paying salaries to
phantom employees. Naturally, after a while, the stories died down and
everything returned to ‘normal’. Then, recently, it was all over the news
that the Nigerian Army was one of the next bodies to have their data
uploaded on the almighty IPPIS and the Finance Minister, Kemi Adeoshun,
expressed her optimism that this would further bring down the current
payroll allocation as exact figures of active personnel would be discovered.
One need not be an economist to understand how money works. Every coin has
two sides, the same with every economy. And what the government is trying
to do is to work from both sides of the coin; increase revenue and decrease
spending – in this case by blocking leakages. The Integrated Personnel and
Payroll Information System (IPPIS), is one of two initiatives introduced by
former finance minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, which have helped to do
just that. Since the introduction of IPPIS, more ghostworkers have been
discovered than any other time in our national history. This is just one of
the ways government can streamline its spending. The second is the Treasury
Single Account (TSA) which allows government, MDAs, and parastatals to
warehouse their funds in a single account as opposed to what obtained in
the past.
In addition to launching the IPPIS and TSA, Dr Okonjo-Iweala also started
the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Corporation (NMRC), Development Bank of
Nigeria (DBN), operationalised the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), and pushed
Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS).
Coupled with these, she led the Economic Management Team (EMT). This was
the internationally endorsed economic team that was saddled with the
responsibility of bringing down Nigeria’s huge debt portfolio. Dr
Okonjo-Iweala’s team was able to see to the wiping out of US$30 billion of
Nigeria’s debt, including the outright cancellation of US$18 billion which
President Olusegun Obasanjo, in his memoirs, admitted would not have been
achieved without her influence and hard work.
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has always believed in systems and institutions as
the best weapon against the challenges faced in Nigeria, by Nigerians and
she has always said as much. No wonder she spent her years in service
ensuring that these institutions were set in place to give the nation an
opportunity for a better future.
by
*UWA EGHOMEKA *
*Uwa is a budding writer and teacher. She writes in from Benin, Edo State.*