Civil Society Coalition on Audit in Nigeria (CSCAN) has asked President Bola Tinubu to appoint a substantive Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF).
The coalition, which include BudgIT Foundation, Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI), Accountability Lab Nigeria among others, decried the absence of an auditor-general for almost a year.
The executive director of PLSI, Olusegun Elemo, who spoke on behalf of the coalition at a news conference on Friday in Abuja, stated that the absence of an auditor-general was unconstitutional.
The coalition, therefore, urged Tinubu to instruct the Federal Civil Service Commission to immediately conclude the recruitment process for the auditor-general for the federation.
The immediate past auditor-general, Adolphus Aghughu, retired in September 2022.
The coalition urged the president to forward the name of the nominee to the Senate for confirmation.
Elomo said,
“What is currently happening at the office of the auditor-general for the federation is a clear breach of constitutional provisions.
“Section 86(3) of the constitution is explicit on how the senate should authorize an individual to act in the office of the auditor-general, for not more than six months.
“Unfortunately, the public official leading the office at the moment is not doing so in an acting capacity but as director overseeing — a designation not recognized by the Nigerian constitution.”
Also speaking, the country director, BudgIT Foundation, Gabriel Okeowo, expressed dismay at the failure of the National Assembly to transmit the Federal Audit Service Bill to the president for assent.
Okeowo blamed politics for why the bill was not transmitted to the president.
He said,
“Political interests overrode the nation’s quest for a more potent and effective supreme audit institution.
“The office of the auditor-general for the federation is not one to be politicised and the more time it takes us to get an adequate legal framework for the audit office, the longer our hope for a renewed Nigeria is deferred.”
The country director, Accountability Lab Nigeria, Friday Odeh, said it was disappointing that, as of August 2023, the report of the auditor-general for the federation for 2020, 2021, and 2022 was yet to be submitted to the national assembly.
He said,
“The audited accounts of the Central Bank of Nigeria for the last seven years (20216 – 2022) published by the apex Bank on August 10, 2023, contains information showing a poorly managed institution. The oversight wheel of accountability at the federal level seems badly driven.
“We have no idea how public resources, processes and policies have been utilised and implemented in 2020, 2021, or 2022. This situation certainly doesn’t reflect the renewed hope of Nigerians for a thriving country.”