A group of Civil Society organisations, Civil Society Coalition on Audit in Nigeria, has called on President Bola Tinubu to appoint a substantive auditor-general of the federation.
Speaking on behalf of the Coalition, while addressing a press conference in Abuja on Friday, the Executive Director at Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative, Olusegun Elemo, condemned the absence of an auditor-general for almost a year.
“What is currently happening at the office of the auditor-general for the federation is a clear breach of constitutional provisions,” Elemo said.
“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,” he added.
While also reacting to the development, Gabriel Okeowo, country director at BudgIT Foundation, expressed disappointment at the failure of the national assembly to transmit the federal audit service bill to the president for assent.
Okeowo however blamed politics, as the reason why the bill was not transmitted to the president.
“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,” Okeowo stated.
