A group of anti-corruption civil society groups led by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to make haste and appoint a substantive Auditor-General for the Federation.
The Group in its communique at the end of the 31st Anti-Corruption Situation Room, organized by HEDA Resource Centre in partnership with the Society for West African Internal Audit Practitioners (SWAIAP) in the Abuja recently said the failure of the federal government to appoint a substantive Auditor-General for the Federation (AuGF) is hurting Nigeria’s efforts in auditing ministries, departments and agencies of government (MDAs).
According to the group, the situation has to a great extent, grounded operations of the public accounts committees of both chambers of the National Assembly since it is the reports of the AuGF that form the bulk of the job of the committees.
It said, “As it stands now, the reports have not been filed for three consecutive years: 2020, 2021 and 2022. The development has also made it impossible for the government to know the true state of public finances in the various MDAs.
Chairman of HEDA, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju emphasised the need for a substantive Auditor-General for the federation and pleaded with the Federal Government to quickly appoint a new Auditor-General for the Federation as the Director Overseeing the office lacks the legal backing to carry out the responsibilities of the office.
He noted the workshop’s significance in the fight against corruption and called for professionalism while urging professional bodies to impose strict sanctions on members who enable corruption.
The position of Auditor-General for the Federation became vacant on September 7, 2022 after the retirement of the then substantive AuGF, Aghughu Adolphus.
Since then the issue of appointing of a substantive AuGF has been surrounded in controversy as there has been allegations of infighting among senior directors in the office of the Auditor-General.
The 2021 Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard compiled by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) had revealed that 137 MDAs did not submit their audited accounts to the Office of the Auditor-General in the last three years.
The assessment further stated that 174 MDAs did not comply with the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2007.
The same defect was noticed in 88 MDAs where tender board composition was in contravention of the PPA 2007. “This promoted procurement and due process abuse and fraud,” it said.
“196 MDAs did not have a training plan and 171 MDAs did not support ethics and compliance initiatives.
“Though personnel of these agencies are regularly exiting the system through retirements, resignations, terminations, dismissals, deaths, etc., yet the number of personnel keeps rising and the wage bill keeps increasing,” the report said.
The ethics and integrity compliance also depicted the absence of a strategic action plan in 140 MDAs; while 187 MDAs did not conduct monitoring and evaluation of their projects in six months before the deployment and assessment exercise.
In section 86 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, the law states that no individual shall act as Auditor-General for the Federation for more than six months.
This follows that Mr Andrew Ogochukwu Onwudili, who currently oversees the Auditor-General’s Office is occupying the position against the stipulated guidelines of the constitution in the appointment of Auditor-General for the Federation having occupied the position for over one year.
Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Ibrahim Musa, in his reaction to the absence of a substantive Auditor General for the Federation, noted that the delay in the appointment of an AuGF will thwart the present administration’s plans to fight corruption.
He said, “If Nigeria is serious about auditing federal government resources and also ensuring accountability, the appointment of a substantive AuGF would have been one of the first and most urgent appointments of the new government.
“There is a need for as a matter of urgency to have a substantive AuGF; it will go a long way in ensuring accountability on government resources.”
He said without a substantive AuGF, many agencies will be spending without control and not reporting their finances, especially at a time when the country is in fiscal crisis.
He called on the President “To as a matter of urgency appoint a substantive Auditor-General for the Federation to ensure that government assets are not fraudulently diverted and people who receive money on behalf of the government are accountable.”