FG set to reposition Ministry of Finance

Hassan Ibrahim, Kaduna - 10.02.2008

Worried by the lack of focus and motivation on the part of some staff of the Federal Ministry of Finance the Federal Ministry of Finance will soon wear a new look with a budget proposal of N500 million for physical restructuring of its office complex in Abuja.

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, said this in Kaduna at the opening of a three-day strategy retreat for senior management staff of the ministry on Saturday.

He said that the project was part of efforts at repositioning the ministry to provide a more conducive environment for workers. According to him, “we have fundamental lack of focus and direction in some of the units of the ministry, overlapping of functions, redundant functions and high level of lethargy among the staff and lack of motivation arising from a number of factors, including poor physical facilities.

“That is why we agreed that there was need for this retreat to discuss the necessary restructuring that the ministry needs to have. That is why we are here, to address the fundamental questions, the issue of quality service delivery because that is the bottom line.

“I was very unhappy when I went round the ministry. We have put half a billion Naira in the 2008 budget to be used to change our physical environment. I believe it is possible for us to transform the Ministry of Finance within the next two years, and create a working environment that is more conducive.

“That is why I conveyed my intention to undertake a major restructuring of the ministry to the heads of departments with a view to eliminating the overlapping of functions across departments, removing out-dated functions and redundancies and refocusing departments and agencies towards their core functions.

“What all this means is that there is need to raise the quality of service delivery by the ministry and its agencies. It is critical that we take the lead responsibility for the development and implementation of government’s economic policies especially in the fiscal areas.”

He said the problem of solo effect has to be eliminated as this impedes the Ministry from fulfilling its mandate in the most effective manner,and therefore warned the staff to embrace Information Technology [IT].

“There will be a time when, if you do not have certain IT skills, you become irrelevant and redundant. If you are not IT literate, you render yourself irrelevant in the organization,” he said.