Alleged diversion: Nigeria FG to automate military payroll before Dec

President of the republic of Nigeria

The Federal Government on Tuesday unveiled plans to move the payroll of the military to the Integrated Personal and Payroll Information System platform before the end of December this year.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, said this in Abuja during a meeting she had with the Continuous Audit Team of the Federal Government.

Present at the meeting were top officers in the military.

The IPPIS scheme is one of the Federal Government’s reform initiatives designed to undertake human resource management activities from recruitment to retirement including payroll and pension processing.

It also facilitates  planning, aid budgeting, monitor monthly payment of workers’ emoluments against what was provided for in the budget; ensure database integrity; facilitate easy storage; updating and retrieval of personnel records for administrative and pension processes.

The disclosure by the minister is coming just few days after the Federal Government ordered an audit of the payroll of the Army, Navy and the Air Force.

The investigation to be carried out by the Continuous Audit team became imperative following revelations in the course of the trial of a  former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, at the Federal High Court, Abuja, that the sum of N558.2m was allegedly diverted monthly from the Nigerian Air Force account into private pockets.

Adeosun said the ministry was making efforts to quickly automate the payroll of all the branches of the armed forces to avoid such occurrences in the future.

The minister, while speaking during a meeting with the team, said while  investigations were ongoing, the government would move the salaries of military personnel to the IPPIS.

She said, “We do have the plan to enrol all our military payroll to the IPPIS before the end of the year but in the interim, it is necessary to respond to allegations and revelations of excesses on the payroll.

“We want to investigate whether or not they are true and correct and also to ensure and to access that whatever steps have been taken to block those leakages in future are effective and adequate.

“So, it is in this light that I discussed with the Minister of Defence, the need to carry out an audit of the military payroll, to improve the controls and make sure that every naira going to the military is for valid reasons.

“So, we are making efforts to quickly automate the payroll of all the branches of the armed forces.”

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Mr. Danladi Sheni, said the initiative was coming at a time when government was working hard to block all leakages and wastage in the public sector.

He assured the audit team of the ministry’s cooperation throughout the exercise.

He said, “This initiative could not have come at a better time, as the Minister of Defence and I are concerned about the revelations in the papers about certain activities concerning the payroll of the armed forces.

“Afterwards, we began a process which led us to the Ministry of Finance and we are very comfortable with the actions that are being taken today.”

The Head of the Continuous Audit Team, Mr. Mohammed Dikwa, while speaking during a chat with journalists, said the team was also looking at enrolling the military into the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System.

This, according to him,  will assist in keeping a proper account and effective monitoring of budgetary allocation to the military.

Source