THE Federation Account and Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting for this month, which was postponed last week, may hold before the month ends as the Federal Government has appointed a new acting Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF).
The appointment of the acting AGF, Anamekwe Chukwunyere Nwabuoku, was today announced by the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Digital Media, Bashir Ahmad, in his official twitter @BashirAhmad.
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Nwabuoku has been appointed to oversee the office of the AGF pending the outcome of the investigation the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is conducting against his immediate substantive predecessor, Ahmad Idris.
Idris, was suspended over an alleged N80 billion fraud.
On the back of the suspension, The ICIR reported that there could be delays in capital releases for federal and state projects, alongside overhead expenditures pending the appointment of a new AGF.
The AGF, according to the law, is empowered to release the mandate that enables payment of federation allocations to the federal, states and local governments.
Nigeria is a federating unit, and the AGF is empowered by law to raise mandates for the sharing of proceeds from revenue generating agencies to the different tiers of the government.
The FAAC meeting is a monthly affair where the federation allocates monthly handouts to the three tiers of government.
This month’s meeting was initially scheduled to hold on May 18 and 19, 2022.
But the ministry of finance, budget and national planning had confirmed its postponement last Wednesday in a circular issued and signed by Stephen Okon, the director, home finance.
However, following the appointment of the new acting AGF, there are possibilities of the FAAC meeting holding this week to forestall possible incidences of salary delays across the three tiers of government.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.