Jide Ojo
There are several anti-corruption policies, programmes and agencies in Nigeria. Some of the institutions established to combat corruption are the Nigeria Police, Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal, court, Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and Financial Action Task Force. Others include Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Bureau of Public Procurement, Office of Attorney General and Minister for Justice, and the Accountant General and Auditor General of the Federation.
At the legal and policy levels, we have the following: Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty Agreements; extradition treaties for corrupt persons; electoral laws against vote-buying and selling; whistle-blower policy; and the Treasury Single Account. Using technology, Nigeria is fighting corruption with the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System and Bank Verification Number while there is also a campaign against vote-buying and selling as well as media campaign against bribery and corruption.
The Auditor-General for the Federation, Adolphus Aghughu, last week, blew the whistle on corruption when he said that the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government failed to account for a total sum of N4.97tn in 2019. Aghughu said the MDAs failed to substantiate the sum after an audit of their financial statements. He made this known while laying the 2019 audit report to the National Assembly. While many of us might have heard of the office, many do not know precisely what it does or meant to do.
In case you missed it, the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation is a separate and independent entity whose existence, powers, duties and responsibilities are provided for under Section 85 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999. Section 85(2) of the constitution provides that the Public Accounts of the Federation and of all offices and courts of the federation shall be audited and reported on by the Auditor-General who shall submit his report to the National Assembly. And for that purpose, the Auditor-General or any person authorised by him in that regard shall have access to all the books, records, returns and other documents relating to those accounts.
Similarly, Section 85(4) of the Constitution stipulates that the Auditor-General shall have power to conduct periodic checks on all government statutory corporations, commissions, authorities, agencies, including all persons and bodies established by an Act of the National Assembly. Furthermore, Section 301 vests the Auditor-General of the Federation with the power to audit the account of Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory. Section 85(6) of the 1999 Constitution states that “in the exercise of his function under the Constitution, the Auditor General shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other authority or person”.
In accordance to Section 85(5) of the 1999 Constitution, the Auditor-General shall, within 90 days of receipt of the Accountant General’s financial statement, submit his report to each House of the National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives); and each House shall cause the report to be considered by a committee of the House of the National Assembly responsible for Public Accounts. The main function of the Public Accounts Committees is to review whether public money was spent or not for the approved purpose and with due regard to efficiency, economy and effectiveness. Much of its work is based on the Auditor-General’s report. The committees hold public sittings to review audit findings. These public sittings are usually attended by the Auditor-General and his team as well as the Accounting Officer (Permanent Secretary) of the audited ministry or office. The ministry or office is expected to defend itself on issue(s) reported on and explain what they have done in respect to the report.
Thus, what Aghughu went to do last Wednesday at the National Assembly is constitutionally backed. Reading the snippet of the 2019 report of the Auditor-General revealed that Nigeria is not indeed winning the war against corruption. According to him, “From the audit carried out on the 2019 Federal Government Consolidated Financial Statement, unsubstantiated balances amounting to N4.97tn were observed. The N4.97tn unsubstantiated balances are above the materiality level of N89.34bn set for the audit. In auditing, materiality means not just a quantified amount but also the effect that amount will have in various contexts.”
Just imagine what the N4.97tn can do in fixing the country’s infrastructural deficit. The Auditor-General also opened the book of lamentation and reeled out some of the challenges his office is facing. He groaned that his office lacked the capacity to function effectively and efficiently especially relating to detection of mismanagement of public funds by the MDAs. Some of the challenges mentioned include: the absence of a Federal Audit Service Law, which is a big challenge as far as effective and efficient public sector auditing are concerned. This is a law that is needed as a basis of fiscal sustainability. Another problem incapacitating optimal functionality of the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation as far as thorough and appropriate auditing of financial statements of the MDAs is concerned is gross underfunding. The AGoF also mentioned office accommodation as part of the problems. According to him, staff members in the Lagos office are about to be evicted due to a series of litigation. There is also the problem of insecurity seriously affecting the office’s scope of coverage.
It is not the first time the Office of Auditor General of the Federation is making startling revelations on mismanagement of resources by the MDAs. In 2017, a similar whistle was blown but nothing came out of it. For example, data from the 2017 audit report revealed that about N9.7 billion released for the implementation of 32 projects in 17 states in Nigeria was unaccounted for. According to the report, N17 billion was disbursed for the implementation of 32 projects in 17 states including the Federal Capital Territory. However, N9.7bn of the funds is unaccounted for. This is preposterous!
From the earlier mentioned constitutional provisions, the main function of the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly is to review whether public money was spent or not for the approved purpose and with due regard to efficiency, economy and effectiveness. Unfortunately, such public sittings to review the audit reports are rarely called for by NASS and when they do, the outcome of such probes are never made public or acted upon. That is why the culture of impunity among the MDAs in respect of financial accounting persists.
It is reports like that of the Auditor-General of the Federation that organisations like Transparency International rely on to rate Nigeria on its annual Corruption Perceptions Index. When we are categorised as being “fantastically corrupt” despite all our anti-corruption measures, it is because of these reckless and unsubstantiated spending by our MDAs. Often times, the Office of Auditor General has persistently decried the non-submission of financial reports by the MDAs and when our public servants are deemed corrupt, they cry of hate speech and wrong profiling.
As one of the anti-corruption agencies, the Office of Auditor-General of the Federation ought to be well-resourced to enable it perform optimally. It shouldn’t be operating from any rented apartment or be at the whims and caprices of any other authority as stipulated in Section 85 (6) of the 1999 Constitution. The National Assembly, particularly the Public Accounts Committees of the two chambers, should stop being the burial ground of the Auditor-General of the Federation’s reports. Instead, the reports should be promptly acted upon with recommendations for proper prosecution of the erring chief executives of any culpable MDAs by the ICPC, EFCC or the Office of Attorney General and Minister of Justice.
Without punishment for these flagrant misappropriation and mismanagement of scarce public resources, the culture of impunity will continue to soar. Finally, as demanded by the Auditor General last Wednesday, the President should waste no more time before sending in the Federal Audit Service Bill for quick passage into law in order to strengthen the performance of the Office of the Auditor General.
