The Finance and Accounts department of the Federal Ministry of Health has commenced a 2-day workshop to train accountants of Teaching Hospitals, Federal Medical Centres, Federal Specialist Hospitals and other health institutions on fiscal discipline, preparation and implementation of budgets.
The workshop which commenced on Thursday, March 2, 2023 in Abuja drew participants from all over the country.
Director Finance and Accounts department of the ministry, Mr Ibrahim Saliu said there were always new innovations in budgeting procedures which affects the economy of the country.
Saliu averred that economy was a dynamic subject, and as long as it was dynamic, there was need to keep catching up with it in order to stabilize it.
He informed that budgeting was the root foundation that supports the economy of a nation. Therefore, in view of that, it was pertinent to keep on learning all the time, training the staff so they could catch up with the new current way of doing budgeting.
He also said it was important to teach the staff so that they know the rules and regulations laid down so that nobody violates it and by so doing they would be able to catch up and stabilise the economy of the nation.
Speaking further, the Director explained that, most times, the people involved in preparing the budget exit from service and when new ones are employed they need to be trained:
“If you don’t train them to understand the procedure and what the government wants, then you are losing institutional memory. For us to maintain that understanding, we have to keep on having continuous training”, Saliu said.
A facilitator at the workshop, Mr. Kolawole Taiwo opined that the whole essence of the workshop was to expose the participants on how to institute the culture of fiscal discipline in the implementation of budgets so that government can perform well at the end of the year.
Taiwo added that its aim was to teach them how to prioritise their programs in the face of scarcity of funds to finance government programs.
The Head of Finance and Accounts, Federal Medical Center (FMC) Keffi, Nalon Okonofua who was a participant in the workshop stated that the training has greatly helped improve her work as she was taught how to exercise financial discipline in her work.
