The
Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun said the Federal Government plans
to relocate some of its Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDA) into
some recovered looted properties.
Adeosun said this on Friday in Abuja while briefing newsmen after the Steering Committee of the Efficiency Unit meeting.
The Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers had been advocating for adequate utilisation of confiscated properties.
Adeosun said that the move to relocate
the agencies was to reduce waste since these properties were empty and
thereby save government from paying rent.
The issuance of price guidelines and
initiatives for reducing expenditure on rent on office and residential
buildings will be the primary focus areas of the efficiency unit in
coming months.
You may want to know that the average annual expenditure on rent for a three year period of 2012 to 2014 was N3.55 billion.
And to achieve that, we are already
looking at using properties that were forfeited from recoveries and
moving some of our agencies to occupy those properties rather than
paying rent,’’ she said.
Adeosun said that the Efficiency unit
had already recorded success in cutting government overhead cost in
areas such as travels, welfare, honorarium, sitting allowance, training,
adverts and publicity as well as refreshments.
Major savings are expected when on-going
engagement with the Bureau of Public Procurement on the pooling of MDAs
demands for standard products such as vehicles, computers, diesel and
others.
We plan to secure large discounts from suppliers and the issuance of Price Guidelines are developed and implemented.
Price Guidelines will ensure uniformity
in the price at which MDAs purchase items, as well as transparency and
value for money in the procurement process.’’
Adeosun said she was working with the
states to ensure that they all established Efficiency Unit since 47.32
per cent of revenue that accrued to the federation goes to the states
and local governments.
She enjoined relevant stakeholders to
collaborate with the unit to ensure it achievd its mandate of cutting
cost and improving the efficiency of government.
Credit: Guardian
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