The Nigerian government has approved the retirement of Sylva Okolieaboh, the Acting-Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Peoples Gazette learnt from people familiar with the development.

Multiple officials said Mr Okolieaboh informed the Head of Service of the Federation on April 13 that he would be proceeding on retirement effective May 28. His retirement application, which came weeks ahead of his 60th birthday, was promptly accepted by the HoS.

President Muhammadu Buhari named Mr Okolieaboh to the position in June 2022 following the dismissal of Ahmed Idris, the former accountant-general, over graft charges.

Mr Okolieaboh joined the civil service in August 2000 as an assistant chief accountant, walking his career gradually to the acting accountant-general.

Mr Okolieaboh, from Uli, Anambra, is the first Nigerian accountant-general of South-East extraction.

He has been a core member of the Federal Government of Nigeria Public Finance Management (PFM) reform team. He was also a pioneer of PFM Team Leader for the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) and author of the GIFMIS Chart of Account which has now been adopted as the National Chart of Accounts.

Mr Okolieaboh was the first director of treasury single account (TSA) at the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. He is an international expert in Public Financial Management (PFM) and has written extensively on various PFM topics in both local and international journals.

While submitting his retirement, he thanked Mr Buhari and other senior members of his cabinet for the opportunity to serve.

During his time in office, Mr Okolieaboh rallied his colleagues to stabilise the nation’s treasury following the inglorious exploits of his predecessors. He played a key role in bringing an end to the monthlong impasse between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Nigerian government over federal payroll management. He was also key to the roll-out of the bottom-up cash management that enforced stricter control over the IPPIS.

A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Mr Okolieaboh holds a master’s degree in public financial management from the University of London and has received executive training from some of the world’s most reputable institutions, including Harvard Kennedy School, London School of Economics and University of Oxford.

In June 2014, Mr Okolieaboh was the guest of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to participate in a four-week training in government finance statistics in Washington D.C. He was the only participant from the entire West Africa during that edition.