Rivers
RSG Recommits To SIFMIS Implementation
The Rivers State Govern
ment has reiterated its commitment to modernising its financial management processes to keep abreast with international best practices in public financial management.
This was made known by the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Hon. Isaac Kamalu at a pre-bid meeting organised by the State Integrated Financial Management Information System (SIFMIS), a sub-component of the State Employment and Expenditure for Results (SEEFOR) Project, founded by the World Bank and the European Union.
Kamalu advised intending bidders to have and show capacity that will enable them deliver products that are of utmost relevance to the people of the state, and explained that the pre-bid meeting was organised to give bidders an opportunity to ask questions and air their views on the content of the bidding document and ensure accountability.
In his address, Commissioner for Youth Development, Prince Princewill Ogbogbula said as part of the new Rivers vision, the ministry was currently organising capacity building programme that will enhance the capacity of youth in the state and make them employable.
Ogbogbula advised the intending bidders that whoever wins should engage the youth because “a lot is being done to certify employable youth, by the time you come on board, we have data of employable youth to furnish you with”.
In his remarks, SEEFOR Project Coordinator, Mr Kelcious Amos, explained that SIFMIS was an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) platform that will integrate planning and budgeting, budget execution, personnel management, procurement and financial reporting and auditing, thereby transforming financial management in the state into a single ICT platform that would make it efficient and transparent, for best utilisation of the state resources.
He opined that SIFMIS will eliminate corruption, enthrone transparency and accountability and make information available at every point to policy makers and technocrats, and enjoined the intending bidders to make adequate use of the meeting to ask questions, seek clarifications and make submissions where necessary.
Declaring the meeting open, Accountant-General of the state, Sir Dagogo Abere, commended the SIFMIS Team for organising the meeting, adding that “this meeting is a very essential step towards a successful bidding process.
Susan Serekara-Nwikhana