FG to Relocate MDAs to Properties Recovered from Treasury Looters

• Targets N14bn annual savings from sitting, travel allowances
• Institutes uniform price guideline for government procurements

Francis Ndubuisi and Chineme Okafor in Abuja

The federal government on Friday disclosed that it will relocate its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that operate from rented properties across the country into some of the buildings recovered from its former officials who are standing trial for corrupt acts while in office.
This is to enable it cut its expenditure on annual rents.

It also said that it has issued a fresh circular on official allowances for travels and sitting to its MDAs, from which it expects to save up to N14 billion annually.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who briefed journalists in Abuja on the activities of the Efficiency Unit she set up in 2015 to optimise government’s expenditure, made this disclosure.

She also disclosed that a uniform pricing guideline for all procurements to be made by government’s MDAs was underway, and that the guideline will ensure uniformity in prices of items purchased by the MDAs when in place.

The guideline, she noted, will in addition to an ongoing pooling of MDAs’ demands for standard products, enable the government negotiate and secure huge discounts from suppliers of necessary official items.

The minister said within the six months that the unit has operated, the government has been able to generate data on its actual consolidated overhead expenditure between 2012 and 2014.

She said such data have enabled it assess government’s spending patterns on overhead and developed strategies to moderate cost and promote accountability.
“The actions required for the implementation of the strategies for the major overhead expenditure items and others that were classified as quick wins have commenced.

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