In January of this year, there was a lot of talk about the ghostworkers
\nsyndrome in the country with some very heavy, almost depressing, figures
\nreeled out detailing how much the government had lost paying salaries to
\nphantom employees. Naturally, after a while, the stories died down and
\neverything returned to \u2018normal\u2019.\u00a0 Then, recently, it was all over the news
\nthat the Nigerian Army was one of the next bodies to have their data
\nuploaded on the almighty IPPIS and the Finance Minister, Kemi Adeoshun,
\nexpressed her optimism that this would further bring down the current
\npayroll allocation as exact figures of active personnel would be discovered.<\/p>\n
One need not be an economist to understand how money works. Every coin has
\ntwo sides, the same with every economy. And what the government is trying
\nto do is to work from both sides of the coin; increase revenue and decrease
\nspending – in this case by blocking leakages. The Integrated Personnel and
\nPayroll Information System (IPPIS), is one of two initiatives introduced by
\nformer finance minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, which have helped to do
\njust that. Since the introduction of IPPIS, more ghostworkers have been
\ndiscovered than any other time in our national history. This is just one of
\nthe ways government can streamline its spending. The second is the Treasury
\nSingle Account (TSA) which allows government, MDAs, and parastatals to
\nwarehouse their funds in a single account as opposed to what obtained in
\nthe past.<\/p>\n
In addition to launching the IPPIS and TSA, Dr Okonjo-Iweala also started
\nthe Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Corporation (NMRC), Development Bank of
\nNigeria (DBN), operationalised the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), and pushed
\nGovernment Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS).
\nCoupled with these, she led the Economic Management Team (EMT). This was
\nthe internationally endorsed economic team that was saddled with the
\nresponsibility of bringing down Nigeria\u2019s huge debt portfolio. Dr
\nOkonjo-Iweala\u2019s team was able to see to the wiping out of US$30 billion of
\nNigeria\u2019s debt, including the outright cancellation of US$18 billion which
\nPresident Olusegun Obasanjo, in his memoirs, admitted would not have been
\nachieved without her influence and hard work.<\/p>\n
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has always believed in systems and institutions as
\nthe best weapon against the challenges faced in Nigeria, by Nigerians and
\nshe has always said as much. No wonder she spent her years in service
\nensuring that these institutions were set in place to give the nation an
\nopportunity for a better future.<\/p>\n
by<\/p>\n
*UWA EGHOMEKA *<\/p>\n
*Uwa is a budding writer and teacher. She writes in from Benin, Edo State.*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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