Monrovia — Deputy Minister of Budget and Development Planning Tanneh G. Brunson has said that the Public Financial Management Reform policy is an effective tool for equitability in public service delivery.
Hon. Brunson made the disclosure on Wednesday, June 29, at the 3rd Development Series Dialogue, organized by the Reform Coordination Unit at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
The dialogue hosted His Excellency Godfrey A.E. Odudigbo, the Ambassador Federal Republic of Nigeria to Liberia.
It was about learning from the Nigerian Government's experiences on various reforms initiated including good governance, and how their experiences could help Liberia's postwar development efforts.
According to her, to ensure transparency, accountability and quality of services, individuals and institutions must develop a system of government that has the characteristic of openness.
She noted that Liberia has realized that through Nigeria National economic empowerment and development strategy (NEEDS), the government and people of Nigeria are on the rise.
She said: "following the years of economic drought, Nigeria was able to rebound through a comprehensive reform with focus on improving the macroeconomic environment through domestic production especially in the agriculture sectors"
The deputy finance minister however said that the pursuit of structure reform to support systems and institutions, is important to improving public financial management and to ensure transparent utilization of public resources and governance reform from enhancing peace and security.
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"With these ongoing reforms processes, it is expected that Nigeria will continue to maintain its convening authority as a major power broker in Africa" she added.
For his part, Godfrey A.E. Odudigbo fdc, Ambassador Federal Republic of Nigeria to Liberia said the Federal Republic of Nigeria is reputed as one of the pioneers in the implementation of some contemporary public financial reforms in Africa.
He noted that Nigeria had three major reforms related to the financial sector of Nigeria Bank recapitalization of 2005 called Treasury Single Account (TSA) of 2012, Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) of April 2007.
He said the Treasury Single Account (TSA) is a financial policy in use in several countries of the world. I am aware that Liberia has its own version, described in the other way round as Single Treasury Account (STA). In Nigeria, the TSA was proposed by the federal government in 2012 under the former President GoodLuck E. Jonathan Administration and was fully implemented by the current President Muhammadu Buhari regime. The TSA has been defined as a public accounting system under which all government revenue, receipts, and income are collected into one single account, usually maintained by the country's Central Bank and all payments are done through the account as well.
The ambassador reform dialogue series is a platform developed by the reform coordination unit with the purpose of knowledge sharing from another spectrum of the globe. It provides a platform for other countries to share their experience in the reform process, including challenges and opportunities. It also allows us to take stock of those useful reforms that are essential for improving the system of effective governance in the public financial management system in our country.
