Nigeria’s Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Opiah, has inaugurated the Council of the Chartered Institute of Treasury Management (CITM).
Inaugurating the Council in Abuja on Tuesday, Opiah said treasury management was imperative to optimising beneficial returns on investment in the education sector.
He said that “treasury management would serve as a preventive mechanism to safeguard resources and ensure that there is value for money invested in education and other sectors of the economy.”
According to him, treasury management is a must for any nation that targets sustainable development.
“This is important because it is a strategic approach to optimising beneficial returns of innovative deployment of both public and private finance,” the Minister explained.
He stated that the supervision and management of cash flows and their balances would be better managed and utilized with the adoption of treasury management.
Mr. Opiah said; “fraud and embezzlement will also be minimised.”
The Minister said that with obvious benefits, the economy would function better with adequate financial resources appropriately allocated and disbursed.
“Chartered Institute of Treasury Management is particularly important to the education sector because it will help ensure that finances allocated to the sector by government, civil society, and non-governmental organizations will be judiciously utilized for the achievement of the Ministry’s three focal areas of Access, Quality and Systems Strengthening and of course the timely attainment of the Ministry’s 10 Pillars of the Education for Change: A Ministerial Strategic Plan,” he further explained.
The Minister said; “I am very confident that the benefits and impacts of the establishment of this Institute will be positive on our society and the Nigerian economy when fully operational.”
Mr. Opiah, therefore, reminded all stakeholders of the fact that Nigeria’s education must prepare and encourage youths to take competitive advantage of the 21st-century knowledge-driven economy within and outside the country.
He implored the Council members to contribute their best to ensure that the vision, mission, mandates, and functions of the institute as enshrined in the Act that established it are achieved for a better, more resourceful, and sustainable development.
The Registrar of CITM, Mr. Adedoyin Olumide said 54 countries of the world have already adopted treasury management advisories.
He added that it was imperative for Nigeria to key into the global template thereby assisting the process of managing government resources.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
