Nigeria Content Online

There are no plans
or directives for the reversal of the electronic payment system in
official transactions in the Federal Public Service, the Accountant
General of the Federation (AGF), Ibrahim Dankwambo, said in Abuja at
the weekend.

He was reacting to
reports that the government has reverted to the issuance of cheques for
certain categories of payments, particularly payment of pensions in the
federal civil service.

According to Mr.
Dankwambo, the benefits of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel
Information System (IPPIS), introduced in 2006 as part of reforms for a
computer-based payroll and personnel information system in the federal
civil service, have been so much that contemplating to reverse the
process would be ill-advised.

“I am not aware of
any such decision or directive for the stoppage of the policy. We have
seen the benefits of the IPPIS project designed to electronically
capture the data of workers in the federal civil service throughout the
country. Government has been saved billions of naira as a result, since
the introduction of the scheme, though it is still premature to say how
much .

“That is why
government will not hesitate to sanction any agency or organisation
that is brought to its notice tampering with the policy,” he said.

He said the
government has so far completed capturing the personal information data
of workers in at least 16 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs),
while local and international consultants have been shortlisted and
prequalified, preparatory to the full systems to roll out nationwide
from January next year.

Reports that the
government had jettisoned the policy and returned to issuing cheques
became rife last week during the ongoing data verification exercise for
federal pensioners holding across the 36 state capitals and the Federal
Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

Paid with cheques

Pensioners who
participated in the exercise were issued cheques at the end of the
verification, as against the e-payment system introduced last year,
where their entitlements were credited directly to personal accounts in
their respective banks, followed by text messages sent to notify them.

One frail-looking
old man, who spoke with NEXT at the verification centre in Abuja, was
embittered that the government did not consider the fragile conditions
of some of them before taking the decision, pointing out that most of
them can hardly withstand the rigours of travelling long distances and
having to endure the harassment in long queues while waiting to present
the same set of documents always presented each time the exercise is
held.

But an official
involved in the exercise, who asked to remain anonymous, last Thursday,
explained the rationale behind the verification exercise, which has
been held at least six times in the last four years. “From time to
time, there is need to update the records of pensioners in the service.
It is natural to expect that some of the pensioners would die. But,
often, the relations of some of these pensioners would not report the
death to the relevant authorities, while government continues paying
their benefits. To help update government data and records for proper
planning, it is compulsory that all pensioners appear physically for
the verification, irrespective of who is involved,” he said.

Government’s
e-payment policy has been widely acknowledged as a positive step to
stem corruption, reduce administrative hostage-taking associated with
payment to individuals and contractors, as well as facilitate a more
transparent payment system that allows for effective monitoring.

The previous arrangement, where pensioners were paid with cheques
was fraught with abuses, as corrupt government officials exploited the
system to siphon public funds through ghost workers and pensioners.