As part of the ongoing efforts at taking firm control of his administration, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has reportedly directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stop further payments to the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, (MDAs), of the Federal Government till further notice.
According a presidency source yesterday, the Presidential order was issued before the embattled CBN boss, Godwin Emefiele was suspended and handed over to the Department of State Services, (DSS) for further action.
According to the source, the directive, which came immediately after President Tinubu assumed office, was to ensure accountability in the MDAs and to prevent looting of government treasury.
The source said that the directive was total and clear, with no exception
Investigation revealed that following the development, the MDAs to have placed a total embargo on payments to the their creditors till further notice and as well finding it difficult to operate as no more money coming from the government, CBN.
A Director-General of a federal Government Agency who confirmed the development said that the directive had grounded operations for the second weeks running now as the Agency had no money to run its operations.
According to him, “Federal Government has placed an embargo on CBN to stop further payments to the MDAs. We are not expecting money from anywhere, debts are piling up; even money we are owing Media Houses for advertisements, we have no money to settle the debts”.
“The saving grace we have is that the staff salaries are being paid directly from the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, (OAGF); I think the situation will be normalised very soon”, he further stated.
According to earlier reports, many civil servants across several MDAs, including the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and the OAGF have been suspended for alleged salary padding on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, (IPPIS).
The development was confirmed by a top official in the office of the Accountant General of the Federation, who hinted that those identified had been placed on suspension pending investigation.
