Buhari inaugurates treasury portal, says Nigerians can now monitor govt spending

The Federal Government has launched the Open Treasury Portal, with the hope of making public the daily treasury statement on how monies that come into government coffer are being spent.

This was made known on Monday by the Executive Secretary, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Mr. Waziri Adio, in a series of tweets via his Twitter handle @Waziriadio.

Now, all the ministries, departments and agencies are mandated to publish, on a daily basis, reports of payments in excess of N5m and over, monthly budget performance and sundry other official financial dealings.

The publications must be in line with the International Public Sector Accounting Standards, Adio said.

Adio had tweeted, “With the launch of the Open Treasury Portal today by President Muhammadu Buhari, all MDAs are to publish the following: daily reports of payments from N5m; monthly budget performance; quarterly financial statements; and annual financial statements prepared in compliance with IPSAS.

“All the reports are to be published within stipulated deadlines on this portal: http://opentreasury.gov.ng. The portal will be open to and can be accessed by all.”

According to Adio, the Accountant General of the Federation will also publish on a daily basis inflows and outflows into the Treasury.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who was represented on the occasion by the Minister of State for Niger Delta, Senator Omotayo Alasoadura, was reported to have said that “all those doing business with government should know that henceforth, all payments they receive will be made public.”

“He urged states and LGAs to key into this transparency initiative, which is line with the Open Government Partnership,” Adio added.

“The open treasury portal was conceived and implemented by staff of the Office of the Accountant General, at no cost to the country,” he said.