- President Buhari has no reason not to sign the audit commission bill into law
Given the priority that his government has accorded the fight against corruption, it is inexplicable that President Muhammadu Buhari has not signed into law the Federal Audit Service Commission Bill, which was passed by the 8th National Assembly. Making this revelation during the budget defence session with the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Senator Mathew Urhoghide, said non-signing of the bill into law undermines the anti-corruption agenda of the administration as it encourages graft in the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government.
It is all too obvious that no meaningful step can be taken to curb corruption without the institution of a national culture of prompt, continuous, efficient and effective auditing of the accounts of MDAs at all levels. For, when occupants of public office are aware that their expenditures will be scrutinised in line with extant financial regulations and that they will be held to account, they will be less inclined to indulge in irresponsible, reckless and corrupt handling of public funds.
In stressing the imperative for the president to urgently sign the bill into law, Senator Urhoghide said, “The bill is very important to the nation as passing it into law forms the bedrock for fighting corruption, which is one of the cardinal objectives of Mr. President’s administration. It will empower the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation who has the constitutional mandate of auditing all accounts of the federation to nip corruption in the bud and ensure transparency in government transactions”.
Among other benefits, the senator further said, the audit bill “will address acute manpower shortage existing in the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation and bring it in tandem with supreme audit institutions and international best practices”. One of the most critical offices indispensable to ensuring the requisite degree of accountability, transparency and fiscal responsibility in government, the Office of the Auditor- General of the Federation has, unfortunately, been treated with considerable levity, even disdain, by all levels of government in this political dispensation.
Many MDAs are notorious for not carrying out and presenting for public scrutiny their annual audit reports within specified time frame, and sometimes not at all. Even when the audit reports are presented to the Public Accounts Committee of the legislature as constitutionally required, nothing is ever done about the audit queries raised. The whole exercise of auditing is thus reduced to a mere ritual of little consequence.
Of course, a great deal of the blame for the inefficacy of the country’s auditing processes and institutions rests with the legislature, which has failed abysmally in its role of rigorously going through audit reports submitted to it and ensuring that public officers who commit fiscal infractions not only respond to audit queries but are sanctioned for unconvincing responses. Senator Urhoghide admitted as much when he noted that “The inability of the National Assembly to consider the backlog of the reports submitted to it by the Auditor-General’s office is not good enough for the country”.
It is not impossible that President Buhari’s non-assent to the bill may have been a fallout of the frosty relationship between the leadership of the 8th National Assembly and the executive arm of government. Even then, it is indefensible, especially given the professed commitment of the administration to raising ethical standards in the country’s public finance administration. Now that there is greater harmony between the two arms of government, we urge the leadership of the National Assembly to work closely with the executive to ensure that this very important bill is speedily actualised.
However, the bill should not be limited to the Federal Government. The Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) should also work in coordination with state houses of assembly to ensure that auditing processes and structures are made more autonomous, professional and efficient at that level of government.
