President Muhammadu Buhari has raised the bar in open governance with his directive that the country’s daily income and expenditure be put in the public domain, the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has said.
According to the group, government finances had always been opaque and shrouded in secrecy.
In a statement signed by its Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary, Cassidy Madueke, BMO said that only a President with a clear conscience and mind could have insisted on an Open Treasury Portal (OTP) where information on financial transactions are provided to the public on a daily basis.
“This is nothing but a bold step by a President that is averse to corruption and is prepared to strengthen government institutions.
“Never in the history of the country has an administration been so prepared to open itself to public scrutiny.
“We see this as an affirmation of President Buhari’s readiness to run an open administration such that any information about government finances could be readily available to members of the public.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Nigerians would now have daily access to information on payments from N10m from the Treasury as well as payments above N5m from all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on the OTP.
“This is clearly unprecedented and we urge government’s critics and naysayers to take advantage of the portal rather than raise unsubstantiated and spurious allegations on government finances on the watch of President Buhari,” the group added.
BMO also noted that the move will roll back some of the excesses introduced into governance by previous Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governments.
“Nigerians have seen how the Buhari administration ensured full implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) as well as unearthed thousands of ghost workers through the stricter implementation of the Integrated Personnel Payroll system.
“And now that the President has taken the initiative of doing what previous PDP administrations dared not do, we invite members of the opposition to show why Nigerians should not be glad to have kicked out that party and replace it with one that is more responsible and responsive.
“We are pleased that people who are used to pushing false narratives can now easily cross-check every naira and kobo that government is spending and why.”
It urged states and local governments to take a cue from the Federal Government and open up their own finances to public scrutiny.