No room for corruption, new Accountant-General warns

The newly appointed Accountant-General of the Federation, Dr. Oluwatoyin Sakirat Madein has warned staff of the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation that she has zero tolerance for corruption.

Dr. Madein gave this warning at a ceremony marking her official takeover from the outgoing acting Accountant-General, Mr Sylvia Okolieboh in Abuja on Friday.

She said with the experience of recent past, all hands must be on deck to redeem the image of the Treasury House.

According to her, “As professional accountants, we should all be guided by the principles of zero tolerance for corruption in discharging our statutory responsibilities so that we can redeem the image of this great office.

“We are all aware that the treasury house has suffered some turmoil in the last one year. I appeal for your support to bring to bear, ethics, core values and the dictates of the profession into our job here.”

She thanked the outgoing acting Accountant-General for the good job he did especially at a turbulent time, promising to continue the good work he started.

“I promise you that with the active support of the staff and all the former Accountants-General, we will move back to the days of glory but I need your cooperation to be able to do that,” she said.

“The journey has just started, I am here as a student who has just been offered admission. What I promise is that I will learn fast. We are going to do this job together.”

She called on all the workers to at all times remain focused and dedicated to their official duties and give advice on how to improve revenue generation for government to effectively execute all the development projects and programmes while also blocking leakages in the revenue sector.

“My promise to you is that I will pay particular attention to staff welfare and capacity building to improve your productivity,” she said.

Earlier the outgoing acting Accountant-General, Mr. Sylvia Okolieboh, in his speech, thanked staff of the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation for the support the gave him in the 11 months he serves in the office and appealed to them to extend same support to the new AGF.

While recalling some of the achievements made under his watch, he said, “We intervened in the protracted strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), we smoothly concluded 2020 general purpose financial statements; rolled out bottom-up cash management policy, reined in on the abuses of Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information Service (IPPIS) ; instituted the treasury staff posting policy to make posting more transparent and equitable.

“The treasury management portal to replace remita payment platform is at its testing state.”

He said he is available to defend his decision and actions while in office.

While congratulating the new AGF, he said, “it is my wish that you succeed.”

He advised the new AGF to carry everyone along and offered his readiness to advise whenever called upon.

In his goodwill message, a former Accountant-General of the Federation, Kayode Nayeju advised the Treasury staff to work in unity. In his words, “Let us work in unity, let us work on love. Where you come from, where you worship or how you look should not determine how we treat each other.

“Let us give objective advise and be dedicated to the course and ethics of our job.”

Former Governor of Gombe State and Senator-elect, while congratulating the new AGF, urged her to always consult retired AGFs and directors, promising that they are always available to offer advice.

He said, “Come to us, because it is our wish that the Treasury stands and stand firm.”

He made case that the immediate past acting accountant-general, Sylvia Okolieboh be confirmed as a substantive Accountant-General as part of his retirement gift.