EDITORIALWe want to use this medium to congratulate you (Malam Sufiyanu Bashir Yuguda) for the new task assigned to you by Zamfara Governor Bello Matawalle on Thursday the 22nd of April 2021.
One thing we need to emphasize here is that no one is in doubt of your moral upbringing, training, and parental guide because at least the testimony of your Permanent Secretary Malam Dauran during your handing over at the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday has testified that off course the luxury of power has not changed you in any way.
We understand that the rationale behind the recent hard decision of swapping you with Malam Rabiu Garba the former Finance Commissioner by the Governor may best be known to the Matawalle himself but one most important thing you should understand now is that “you are the new hope of the Governor” by implications.
To say the bitter fact you are trapped in between a journey that just started with a lot of crises, and it is the expectation of the Governor who redeployed you to that ministry and indeed the entire people of Zamfara State that you would surely do things differently from the usual way it was done before.
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For us, we quite believed that your job is simpler, but you can make it more complex by your attitude and actions if you so wish.
The ministry of Finance is a very technical ministry which requires people with technical expertise and experience, but that does not mean anyone who is lacking in these requirements cannot make a difference as a Commissioner.
Mr. Yuguda all you need to do as new Commissioner for Finance is to understand how the ministry operate what constitutes its structures what are your opportunities and limitations. This is very important and essential.
Let us remind you that, the ministry of finance by convention is owned by the Accountant General of the state any other person including the Commissioner is just playing a complimentary role. You have to accept this as number one step of your entry to success.
“The Accountant General is the chief accounting officer of the state, he is in charge of the revenue cash flow and also account for the government expenditures”
“He owns the accounting staffers, and they reported to him only. They sent their end of the year financial report to him and based on his frequent interaction with them, he knew the capacity of all of them.
As for the Commissioner of Finance he is the chief financial adviser to the Governor, and he is the one in charge of the state financial policies and also supervise the operational conduct of the activities of the ministry.
Permanent Secretary on the other hand is in charge of day to day running of the ministry’s secretariat. He runs the general administration of the finance ministry and account for the expenditures of the running cost of the ministry.
Understanding this strategic arrangement of the ministry of finance is key to ensuring smooth take-off as Commissioner, and it would guard against friction and overlapping of responsibilities which we had experienced before.
Added to all what we have mentioned to you earlier, we expect you to observe the following steps:
1) As a Commissioner of finance we expect you to carry your accountant general along and allow him perform his duties as provided for in the financial instruction without interference.
2) Allow him to interact and work with his accounting staff freely deploying or redeploying whosoever he wishes since they are accountable to him. Don’t drag your self in to the politics of posting and redeployment of Directors of Finance and Accounting staffers it is not your job as Finance Commissioner it is the job of the Accountant General.
3) This medium in collaboration with other stakeholders have worked harder to convince the government to allow for decentralization of the state salary system for efficiency and now there is policy on the ground which allow for decentralization, please try as much as possible to make it work so that all leakages in the payment of salary would be blocked and government can have enough reserves to do other things.
4) Take the issue of staff training very seriously because modern accounting management and operation requires frequent training and retraining of staffers. You have seen how Zamfara is losing so many interventions and grants because of system in-efficiency.
5) Please take the issue of end of the year financial reporting very seriously so that together with the ministry of budget and economic planning can advise the government on how to plan for a realistic fiscal budgetary system.
6) Deconcentrate more from this data update project of your predecessor it has less impact instead like we suggested to you earlier, try and perfect the decentralization of the salary system so that ministries, parastatals and agencies of the government can take charge of the payment of salary of their staff and also work toward harmonizing the indifference between the nominal and payroll.
7) Desist from creating more enemies for your self, avoid the media in too many ways except on issues that are sensitive to government operations but also be a friend to the media practitioners and bring them closer to you by relating very well with them that would assist you a lot.
8) Contact experts and people with experience to always guide you on some of the decision you take and avoid embarrassing your employer the Governor by turning things he brought in the public. Manage your crises with him in the close door and don’t allow them open to public.
9) I learned that yesterday you stepped downstairs to lead the Zuhr prayers along with your staff this your particular action motivated them a lot. Please build a mutual working relationship with all your staff including the laborers so that they can see openness to advise you lightly.
10) lastly take advantage of your working relationship with your new Permanent Secretary Kabiru Gayari, the man is too resourceful when it comes to the issue of financial management. Let me say, “He knows it all” in that area please, hook him and tap as much as you can tap from him, you will never regret working with Gayari as your Permanent Secretary.
May Allah help you out.
Once again Congratulations!!!!!.
