The Federal Government has recovered N7.8 billion, $378 million
and 27,800 pounds through its whistleblower policy.
The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, said this on Wednesday
while briefing State House correspondents after the cabinet
meeting.
She said that the government intended to institutionalize the
whistleblower policy with a view to properly handling its
increasing magnitude.
She said she also updated the council on the numbers of tips
received, investigations dealt with and the types of monies
recovered through the policy.
“I also reported that the whistleblower team has recently come
back from a trip to the Uk. The United Kingdom government was
giving us trainings on whistleblowing, how we should
institutionalise it. The team spent sometime with revenue office in
UK. They spent sometime in customs office and they took them
through what they have been able to do.
“I will be bringing the memo to the council. One of the things
it has achieved is prevention. When they get the tips, they use it
to block avenues for leakage. We have had a significant number
tips. So, we will be coming back to institutionalise whistleblowing
as a structure. It has become central part of fighting corruption,
giving us valuable information. Basically, whistleblowing is here
to stay, giving us useful information,” she said.
She said the FEC approved a three-year debt strategy to reduce
Nigeria’s reliance on short-time borrowing particularly treasury
bills, 91 days treasury bills, “costing us 21% and moving from
domestic borrowing into external borrowing.
“When we came in, what were owing was 84 per cent domestic and
16 per cent external borrowing. We have moved to 77:23 as a result
of Eurobonds that we have done and refinancing of maturing
obligations. Our terms of maturity was 7.15. We have now extended
it to 11.25. That gives a little bit of room to allow the
investment we have made in capital projects to filter into our tax
system and allows us to manage the debt.
“What that means is reducing our cost of funds and reducing our
interest cost because the cost of borrowing is much more less and
in a planned manner and our average borrowing has reduced from 18%
to about 14%. We are confident that as interest rates begin to
ease, we will reduce our cost of borrowing even further.”
The minister put the total capital busget released so far for
2017 at N1.248 trillion.
“l gave details of the big four areas and then others. So,
Power, Works and Housing got N301.89 billion, defence 151.2
billion, Agriculture N119.9 bn, Transport N127.9 billion and other
ares combined is N547.6 billion.
“We haven’t closed yet. We are confident we will close the year
roughly around where we closed last year. We will close around N1.3
trillion mark. So, our commitment to infrastructure spending
remains very strong. That is what is going to drive growth of the
economy. That is what is going to drive jobs,” she added.
Adeosun also disclosed that the government saved N68 billion on
personnel cost in 2017, saying this brought the aggregate savings
on personnel cost since 2007 to N288 billion.
The minister said the savings would have gone unaccounted for,
assuring that they would be spent on capital projects.
Adeosun noted that the savings were made despite the rise in
personnel, including the employment of 10,000 by the Nigerian
Police.
She said 511 ministries, departments and agencies had been
captured under the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information,
with staff count of 607,843.
“As at 20th March, 2018 the number of MDAs on IPPIS Payroll is
469 with 316,158 Staff Count with gross salary of
N43,979,383,997.78 and 42 Police Commands and Formations paid on
IPPIS Platform in February, 2018 with Staff Count of 291,685 and
gross salary of N22,276,669,257.21.
“Staff of Para-Military Agencies (Nigeria Immigration Service,
Nigeria Prison Service and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence
Corps) enrolled to date is 100,822 for which a trial payroll of
N11,456,278,859.00 have been sent for review and update for April,
2018 payroll,” Adeosun said.
The Federal Government has recovered N7.8 billion, $378 million
and 27,800 pounds through its whistleblower policy.
The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, said this on Wednesday
while briefing State House correspondents after the cabinet
meeting.
She said that the government intended to institutionalize the
whistleblower policy with a view to properly handling its
increasing magnitude.
She said she also updated the council on the numbers of tips
received, investigations dealt with and the types of monies
recovered through the policy.
“I also reported that the whistleblower team has recently come
back from a trip to the Uk. The United Kingdom government was
giving us trainings on whistleblowing, how we should
institutionalise it. The team spent sometime with revenue office in
UK. They spent sometime in customs office and they took them
through what they have been able to do.
“I will be bringing the memo to the council. One of the things
it has achieved is prevention. When they get the tips, they use it
to block avenues for leakage. We have had a significant number
tips. So, we will be coming back to institutionalise whistleblowing
as a structure. It has become central part of fighting corruption,
giving us valuable information. Basically, whistleblowing is here
to stay, giving us useful information,” she said.
She said the FEC approved a three-year debt strategy to reduce
Nigeria’s reliance on short-time borrowing particularly treasury
bills, 91 days treasury bills, “costing us 21% and moving from
domestic borrowing into external borrowing.
“When we came in, what were owing was 84 per cent domestic and
16 per cent external borrowing. We have moved to 77:23 as a result
of Eurobonds that we have done and refinancing of maturing
obligations. Our terms of maturity was 7.15. We have now extended
it to 11.25. That gives a little bit of room to allow the
investment we have made in capital projects to filter into our tax
system and allows us to manage the debt.
“What that means is reducing our cost of funds and reducing our
interest cost because the cost of borrowing is much more less and
in a planned manner and our average borrowing has reduced from 18%
to about 14%. We are confident that as interest rates begin to
ease, we will reduce our cost of borrowing even further.”
The minister put the total capital busget released so far for
2017 at N1.248 trillion.
“l gave details of the big four areas and then others. So,
Power, Works and Housing got N301.89 billion, defence 151.2
billion, Agriculture N119.9 bn, Transport N127.9 billion and other
ares combined is N547.6 billion.
“We haven’t closed yet. We are confident we will close the year
roughly around where we closed last year. We will close around N1.3
trillion mark. So, our commitment to infrastructure spending
remains very strong. That is what is going to drive growth of the
economy. That is what is going to drive jobs,” she added.
Adeosun also disclosed that the government saved N68 billion on
personnel cost in 2017, saying this brought the aggregate savings
on personnel cost since 2007 to N288 billion.
The minister said the savings would have gone unaccounted for,
assuring that they would be spent on capital projects.
Adeosun noted that the savings were made despite the rise in
personnel, including the employment of 10,000 by the Nigerian
Police.
She said 511 ministries, departments and agencies had been
captured under the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information,
with staff count of 607,843.
“As at 20th March, 2018 the number of MDAs on IPPIS Payroll is
469 with 316,158 Staff Count with gross salary of
N43,979,383,997.78 and 42 Police Commands and Formations paid on
IPPIS Platform in February, 2018 with Staff Count of 291,685 and
gross salary of N22,276,669,257.21.
“Staff of Para-Military Agencies (Nigeria Immigration Service,
Nigeria Prison Service and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence
Corps) enrolled to date is 100,822 for which a trial payroll of
N11,456,278,859.00 have been sent for review and update for April,
2018 payroll,” Adeosun said.
Read more https://nairalaw.com/fg-recovers-n9-12bn-through-whistleblower-policy/