The Accountant-General of the Federation, Dr Shamseldeen Babatunde Ogunjimi, has urged the World Bank to accelerate the approval and disbursement of project funds to Nigeria, stressing that the facilities are loans that the country is obligated to repay and not grants.
According to a statement by Bawa Mokwa, director, Press and Public Relations, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) on Friday, Ogunjimi made the appeal during a courtesy visit by a delegation from the World Bank led by Mrs Treed Lane in Abuja.
The Accountant-General said Nigeria, as a responsible borrower, deserved timely processing and release of funds to support the implementation of key development projects across the country.
He warned that prolonged delays in the approval process could discourage the government from pursuing such funding arrangements.
“If approvals take more than six months, the Nigerian Government may no longer honour such arrangements,” Ogunjimi said.
He further disclosed that the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) had commenced action on key concerns earlier raised by the World Bank, particularly in the areas of public financial management statements and audit reporting.
According to him, the 2023 Audit Report would be submitted to the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation within two weeks, while work on the 2024 and 2025 audit reports was already ongoing.
Ogunjimi also assured the World Bank delegation that issues relating to the digitalisation of the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) were being addressed.
He explained that obsolete infrastructure was being replaced with modern technology to improve efficiency and service delivery within the public finance management system.
Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Mrs Treed Lane, congratulated Ogunjimi on his recent appointment as African Chairman of the Association of Accountants-General.
Lane encouraged the OAGF to sustain efforts towards digitalising its operations and ensuring the timely presentation of professional financial statements to the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.
According to her, such measures would strengthen seamless public financial management processes in the country.
