N500bn stuck in abandoned federal audit reports – CSJ

The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) says over N500bn has not been properly accounted for in the previous years’ report of the AuditorGeneral of the Federation (AuGF) submitted to the National Assembly due to lack of enabling laws to compel and sanction Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) that ignore audit queries.

This was disclosed yesterday in Abuja at a stakeholders’ dialogue on the enactment (de novo) of the Federal Audit Commission Bill organised by the CSJ, the Rule of Law and AntiCorruption Programme of the British Council and the European Union (EU).

It was meant to draw up advocacy strategies to engage the legislature and the executive for the enactment of the Federal Audit Commission Bill.

The Lead Director of CSJ, Eze Onyekpere, a lawyer, said if the amounts were reconciled and made available under a functioning audit law, it was more than the entire budget of the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, which is the biggest ministry in the country.

Apart from the enactment of the Federal Audit Service Commission, the event was also to build capacity of civil society and the media to demand and monitor compliance of MDAs with the audit laws; and support the office of the AuGF, Public Accounts Committees and MDAs to improve practice.

Onyekpere said that after the implementation of each budget cycle, it was the auditor-general’s duty to review whether Nigeria got value for money and whether the money was spent in accordance with appropriation, financial instructions and regulations, and public finance management laws.

On his part, the Executive Director, Media Rights Advocacy (MRA), Mr. Edetaen Ojo, said the bill was introduced to the National Assembly as a private member’s bill, and went through legislative processes, including public hearing, passed by the lawmakers, but that President Olusegun Obasanjo did not sign it before leaving office in 2007.