Get Nigeria New Audit Law Before Leaving Office, Coalition Urges NASS, Buhari

The coalition is worried that existing Federal Audit Law cannot help the current government or its successor to tackle public sector corruption; as well as the need to strengthen the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation (OAuGF).
CSCAN made the plea in a joint communique issued after stakeholders’ dialogue to review the current state of public audit and accountability in Nigeria, on Friday, in Abuja.
It will be recalled that the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development, PRIMORG, a member of the coalition had recently drawn the attention of President Buhari to the weaknesses of the 1956 Audit Law currently in use during its anti-corruption radio programme, PUBLIC CONSCIENCE.
Here are the resolutions of the coalition:
“We appeal to all stakeholders (National Assembly, Federal Executives, OAuGF, Civil Societies and media organizations) involved in the process of enacting a new audit law for Nigeria to make relevant and necessary compromises in accelerating this process.
“That Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly publish recommendations and resolutions on previous reports of the Auditor-General.
“That the Auditor-General publish timeously his reports to enhance civic and media engagements.
“That civil society and media actors engage more in the audit process and improve on their use of audit data for advocacy and media reporting.
“That anti-corruption agencies significantly leverage audit information in their fight against public sector corruption in Nigeria.”
The Coalition, however, expressed disappointment at the way key stakeholders have so far handled the financial, operational, and administrative independence of Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation being the foremost accountability institution in Nigeria.
CSCAN also noted that a Federal Audit Law when passed by the National Assembly and assented to by the president will strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to mobilize revenue internally rather than over reliance on debt facilities and accelerate efficiency of public expenditure as against visible waste of public resources in some federal agencies.
Members of the coalition include: Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI), Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development, (PRIMORG), Accountability Lab Nigeria, BudgIT, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Step Up Nigeria, others.

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