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A financial expert and former President of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN, Mr. Ismaila Zakari, has called on President Bola Tinubu to sign into law the Public Audit Bill, to check corruption in the public sector.
Zakari, who lamented that the audit law being used in the country was enacted since 1956, said the new audit law having been passed by the National Assembly was still awaiting presidential assent.
He spoke in Abuja at a two-day training for journalists on Audit Reporting, organised by FrontFoot Media in collaboration with the Wole Soyinka Foundation, and the McArthur Foundation.
Recall that in March 2023, the National Assembly announced its passage of the Federal Audit Service Bill, which prescribes a five-year jail term for any accounting officer, who prevents the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation, OAGF, from accessing their account books.
The bill, which also seeks the establishment of the Federal Audit Commission, is expected to, among other things, strengthen the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation and check endemic corruption in the system.
Zakari also decried the failure of auditors general of states as well as that of the federation to prepare their periodic reports as required by law, stating that the last audit report of the Federal Government was in 2019.
According to him, since 2019, the Auditor General of the Federation and the Accountant General of the Federation have, for some reasons, not completed their reports.
He added that accountants general were required by law to present their statements of account latest by March 31st for auditing, while auditors general were to present their reports latest by June 30th every year.
He noted that despite breaches to the constitution which mandates such periodic publications, someone has not been held accountable, stressing that if the country’s financial statements are not prepared, it would not know how precarious or otherwise its financial position is.
He therefore urged journalists to fulfil their constitutional obligations by providing checks to public agencies to ensure they comply with the law.
Zakari also suggested a review of the constitution to allow the budget to be laid before the executive instead of the legislature even as he decried the failure of the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly to ensure that they get the Auditor General of the Federation to publish his periodic reports as required by law.
Earlier at the opening of the training, the Chairman of FrontFoot Media, Mr Sally Abu, noted that the workshop was one of a serries to bring journalists to speed with the constitutional responsibility of holding public office holders accountable.
Abu stressed the importance of accountability as it is what holds the society together and should not just be given a cursory but holistic look.
He also emphasised the need for state governments to understand that the law does not permit them to sack.
“The governor cannot remove the auditor general unilaterally, except by 2/3 majority of the state house of assembly,” he said.
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