Government

Festus Aleogena and Co has the experience and skill set to provide consulting services to government and public service agencies. Our field research and our recent studies (2009), indicate that some State governments and ministries are still using out dated accounting and administrative manuals (financial instructions and general orders) which contain vestiges of colonial provisions that are not applicable to the specific challenges that we face today.

 

Financial accounts and audits thereon are in arrears. The Auditors General’s Departments of some State jurisdictions are battling with audits of prior years. Many audit queries and the information they seek are unanswerable because the public officials who did business at the time had been long gone, retired or dead. While conducting audits of prior years, current business is done without live audits. Consequently, unscrupulous public officials still engage in wasteful and fraudulent expenditure. Current revenue collection activities take years to come under audit and legislative reviews.

 

As is now very well known, the EFCC investigations revealed unprecedented levels of fraud in high places. In our opinion, the long term solution lies in routine accounting and live audits of current government business. As always, accountability delayed is accountability denied.

 

Our firm’s approach is to assist the government on public service delivery on the electorate promise through practical contributions to public debate, live audits and manpower development. Working with government agencies, we create department-specific solutions that are based on measurable goals.

We collaborate with numerous partners to provide specialized services and leverage the impact of our work on public sector consultancy.

 

We collaborate with field operating staff of government, university professors, retired permanent secretaries and Auditors General to provide in-depth study and research on topical issues in public sector business. Through these collaborations, we blend our specialized expertise with the skills and experience of national and international experts to provide assistance on issues ranging from manpower development, database management, financial controls, financial planning, budget reforms and feasibility studies

 

 

Our firm partners with leading public agencies and professional institutions to build coalitions to execute major public projects. Through these coalitions, we participate at public sector events and conventions on such key issues like accountability, financial management and public service succession. Our strategies and specialized approach provide support for each tier of government in accomplishing goals.

 

 

We partner with social investors and fund raising teams to formulate strategies and create access to venture capital for public organizations including educational institutions and philanthropic agencies. We assist with general fund raising and endowment fund planning.

Faced with today’s challenges, our diverse team of professionals is dedicated to providing information, advice and financial tools to guide senior public officials in delivering services to the electorate and the elected officials. We provide the following services for top level public sector personnel:

 

 

We provide special services for entry level employees in government. We also provide assistance on in-house manpower development programmes to improve on performance of existing staff. This level of services includes:

 

A small sample of our prior engagements is provided below. Please contact us for more detailed information regarding potential and future engagements.

 

In the 1980s and 1990s, our firm engaged in major consulting ventures to evaluate and simulate the realities of the audit alarm system that was enacted into law as a solution to the nagging problem of corruption in public service. It was argued that pre-auditing which was specifically excluded by the Audit Ordinance of 1956 would provide the much needed deterrent and preventive measure against fraud in the machinery of government at all three tiers of government. We first worked with the government of States and later extended the services to Federal government agencies.

 

We conducted seminars and workshops on accounting under the civil service reforms. Prior to that era, the accounting systems and the underlying financial regulations were never subject of public debate and training of accounting personnel. In most cases, the intermediate staff and mid-level accounting personnel only had to cope with new forms that were designed under top level secrecy by senior administrative staff. Some government officials protested and in fact wrote memos against external consulting and advisory services which they had never experienced. The government at the time was committed to the revolution it proposed and the nation has not been the same again on closed door public financial management policy.

 

 

In collaboration with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, we provided consulting services on public financial management for senior public officials. We assisted the Institute to deliver nation wide training for local government treasurers in eleven States.

 

Through the then Center for Democratic Studies, we conducted nationwide workshops on public budgeting and accountability for members of State legislative assemblies in nine states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

 

Under the auspices of the office of the Chief of General Staff, our senior partners and consultants served as key resource persons in the manpower development work and induction programmes organized by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and ASCON Badagry for all the newly appointed Auditors General for local governments. Having been appointed to the new positions, the issues then were to provide the insights and research into best public audit practice including the interface with the Federal government, the State governments and the public. Another topical matter of research and study was to consider the relevance and the extent to which the existing Financial Memoranda would help to achieve efficiency, effectiveness and economy of operations at the grass root level for delivery of service to the public.