N8bn not enough to audit over 1000 MDAs – Auditor General

The Auditor General of the Federation, Shaakaa Chira, on Wednesday, said the N8bn budget for the Auditor General’s office is not enough to audit over 1000 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and the N28.7 trillion annual budget.

He also said his office is in partnership with the National Assembly for the passage of the Audit Bill which has been in the legislative chamber for the past ten years

Chira stated this in Abuja on Wednesday at the public presentation of the Office of Auditor General’s strategic plan 2024-2028.

Speaking on the strategic plan, he said the OAUGF 2024-2028 plan encapsulates the aspirations of the Management and Staff to contribute to the government’s agenda to stem the tide of corruption, reduce waste and revenue leakages to the barest minimum, guard against diversion of public resources, while calling for more funding as the current budgetary provision is inadequate.

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He said, “It may surprise everyone to note that the OAuGF currently audits or conducts periodic checks on over 1,000 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) including Nigeria’s Foreign Missions.

“While the federal government’s budget has been growing over the years, the finances made available for the OAuGF to carry out the audit have reduced compared with the related tasks.

“For instance, the total allocation to the OAuGF for the 2024 financial year is N8,165,312,037.00 (Eight billion, one hundred and sixty-five million, three hundred and twelve thousand, thirty-seven naira), with 65% as personnel cost, to audit the federal government’s budget of 28.78 trillion for the same period, aside from the current proposal of additional N6.2 trillion laid before the National Assembly which will bring the total budget to 34.9 trillion.”

He said while the constitution makes a broad provision for the independence of the OAuGF, “the specifics in terms of operational/administrative procedures, its finances, etc., to preserve its independence are not in the constitution.

“This is why all over the world, each audit office is further backed by an audit Act.

“At this juncture, I want to commend the 10th House of Representatives, particularly the PAC of the House for the passage of the Federal Audit Service Bill as I plead with the 10th Senate to give expeditious concurrence to the bill which is already before it.”

Also speaking, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. George Akume, affirmed the government’s commitment in supporting Nigeria’s audit system.