The Government of the State of Osun, in its effort at deepening accountability and simplifying its budgetary process, on Friday, launched the State Integrated Financial Management Information System (SIFMIS).

The Governor of the State of Osun, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola, describing the project, said the project is of monumental importance to his administration’s vision and commitment to enthroning financial efficiency, accountability and transparency in the management of the economy of the state for optimum results.

He added that it is the belief of his administration that the best way to fight corruption in the public service is to build an impregnable and efficient financial system, which SIFMIS is built to address.

According to Oyetola: “Our Administration is built on a development agenda whose purpose is to provide adequate, equitable and quality service for the people using the mechanics of accountability and transparency as the drivers of the management of our limited resources.

“In the over two years that we have come into government, this strategy has helped us to cut wastages and plug excesses, and we have used the dividends to provide services in all the sectors, especially in health, infrastructure and education.

“We believe that the best way to achieve sustainable development and economic transformation is to develop a system that will make our bureaucracy efficient and put our financial system on auto pilot. To achieve this end, we went on a search and our quest produced a best practice compliant application, the State Integrated Financial Management Information System.

“We are grateful to the European Union and the World Bank whose support gave birth to the building of State Integrated Financial Management Information System that we are commissioning today.

“The State Integrated Financial Management Information System is a financial application that will enhance our budgetary efficiency. It is a potent weapon for achieving our resolve to rid our system of corruption and unnecessary bottlenecks.

“This application is a catalyst to our development strategy, which is targeted at providing prosperity and better life and services for our people. It will also further instill financial discipline in our bureaucracy and make our State a player in global financial best practices and a model in financial efficiency in the nation.

“For an Administration that has created a road map for economic recovery and transformation through the institution of Economic Summit, the establishment of Investment Promotion Agency, engagement in massive infrastructure development and the expansion of all sectors, the institution of the State Integrated Financial Management Information System to improve financial sanity and efficiency is a necessary requirement to complete the economic cycle.

“With the commissioning of the State Integrated Financial Management Information System today, it is certain that the State is on the path of achieving financial efficiency and economic transformation”, Oyetola stated.

The Commissioner for Finance, Mr Bola Oyebamiji, speaking at the launch, said the launch of SIFMIS marked a turning point in the government’s effort at promoting accountability in public financial management.

“The desire of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola to enthrone an efficient and robust public service has started manifesting. With the State Integrated Financial Management Information System (SIFMIS) being launched today, we are sure that in no distant time, service delivery within our public service in Osun will compete favourably with world standards.

“Osun IFMIS as currently implemented covers: Oracle General Ledger, Oracle Account Payable, Oracle Account Receivables, Oracle Fixed Assets, Oracke Hyperion Planning and Budgeting, Oracle Purchasing, Helpdesk, and Oracle Business Intelligence Report.

“In the next phase of our e-governance programme, we hope to extend the SIFMIS operations to cover the following modules: Electronic Document Management System (EDMS), Sourcing Module for Procurement activities, HR and Payroll, Revenue, Project Monitoring, and any other module as our e-governance activities progresses”, Oyebamiji stated.

Oyebamiji announced that the system was efficiently deployed for operation on 25th February 2021 with no incidence of system failure till the time of reporting.

Commenting on the workability of the system, the Project Manager of SIFMIS, Gabriel Oginni, described the project as a major breakthrough in the e-governance drive of the State of Osun.

“The objective of SIFMIS is to improve efficiency in financial transactions and reporting through effective utilisation of simple but robust automated system.

“Being that every automation has incremental change, this phase has laid a strong infrastructural foundation for e-governance in our dear state,and this can be further expanded and stepped down to local government areas in the State. No doubt, SIFMIS project has put the state at the level of international best practice and on the pact of efficient financial transparency, accountability and accuracy”, Oginni stated.