The implementation of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) by the federal government during the pilot stage helped it saved N12 billion, the finance minister has said.
Segun Aganga added that the integrated system will boost the capacity for saving and enhance efficiency in the public funds management.
He stated this yesterday in Abuja at the opening of the second phase of the IPPIS Sensitisation and Change Management Workshop organised by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation. He added that the payroll system was part of government’s effort to strengthen Nigeria’s macroeconomic and fiscal environment.
Mr. Aganga said that the government seeks to block all leakages in the payroll system and avoid practices that promote expansion in recurrent expenditure, to the detriment of competing needs.
“My expectation is that all MDAs drawing personnel costs from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) will use the IPPIS. This will guarantee that the era of estimated releases is over and ensure that more savings are realised.
“The focus of IPPIS is not just on savings, but also on increasing the efficiency in management of public funds and ease to the beneficiaries, including third party stakeholders like cooperative societies, unions, pension fund administrators and tax authorities,” he said.
Managing expenditure
He said there was need to streamline the overall level of expenditure, particularly capital spending, while government has adopted measures to enhance the quality and efficiency of spending to ensure that monies allocated will facilitate the achievement of a higher implementation level than with higher allocated amounts in the past.
Part of the measures include the proposed Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) that will provide a stabilisation fund to augment the budget based on a clear prudential fiscal rule; a future generations fund; and an infrastructure fund, to aid the development of the country’s critical infrastructure.
Other measures include the expenditure review committee to supervise the country’s spending and recommend ways to generate savings and rationalise outlays; introduction of the principles of performance based budgeting into the budget process, to ensure the resources are allocated to ministries, departments, and agencies with the best performance, with tangible results from their spending.
Nana Mede, the coordinator of the IPPIS project, said that out of offices that have submitted their records, excluding the military, paramilitary agencies, customs service, immigrations and prisons services, are an estimated 426,000 staff, including the police, that draw their personnel cost from the revenue fund, only 58,000 from 16 offices have currently embraced the system, leaving 384. This, she said, has made it difficult for government to have accurate wage bill for planning and budgeting, which the IPPIS was designed to help resolve.
Ogunsanya Babatunde, the acting Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), said IPPIS introduction has made it possible for workers to collect their monthly pay before 20th of every month throughout the federation, and has helped in maintaining a secured database and service record for staff.
