The Socio-Economic Right and Accountability Project and seven other civil societies have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Federal Audit Service Commission bill into law which will help to fight corruption in public expenditure.
The civil societies said in Abuja that the audit law would “ensure that public resources are efficiently managed and make audit reports of government funds publicly available.”
The civil societies which made this call at a joint briefing included; SERAP, BudgIT, Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative and Step Up Nigeria.
They noted that the President’s signing of the Federal Audit Service Commission Bill, which was passed by the 8th National Assembly since January 2019, would reduce public corruption and ensure administrative independence for the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.
The SERAP Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, said, “The comparative analysis of Nigeria and five other countries including Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, South Africa and the United Kingdom with respect to how audit institutions are structured in these countries, provides seamless understanding as to why corruption is at a much higher level in Nigeria.
“We request therefore that President Buhari urgently signs the pending Federal Audit Service Commission bill as this will contribute to the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
“Transparency International in its Corruption Perception Index 2018 rated Nigeria 144 with 27 points while Sierra Leone was rated 129, Ghana 78 and United Kingdom 11 with 80 points. These other countries with less corruption have stronger supreme audit institutions.”
Also, the PLSI Executive Director, Olusegun Elemo, said, “We believe that signing this bill into law will, among other things, increase citizens’ engagement in the audit process and management of public funds through making audit reports publicly available.
“It will also ensure that public resources are sufficiently managed, improve the quality of goods and services being delivered to citizens through conducting performance audit.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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