The Nigerian Senate has passed a bill for the establishment of Federal Audit Service Commission.
This is part of efforts to ensure probity and accountability lacking in many government agencies due to acute manpower shortage existing in the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.
Senate also mandated its leadership to liaise with President Muhammadu Buhari on the need for him to assent to the bill before the lapse of the 8th National Assembly so as to further boost the fight against corruption in the country’s public service.
Passage of the bill was sequel to the presentation and consideration of report by the Senator Matthew Urhoghide led Committee on Public Accounts during plenary.
The Commission
The Commission, when established, would have a chairman, six commissioners from the six geo-political zones, a representative of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation not below the rank of a Director.
Senator Urhoghide explained that there would also be two persons who retired from the service of the Office who had reached the rank of a Director on grade level 17 and two persons appointed to represent the two professional accounting bodies in Nigeria.
“This Bill is very important to the nation as passing it into law will form the bedrock for fighting corruption which is one of the cardinal objectives of Mr. President’s administration. It will empower the Office of the Auditor- General for the Federation who has the constitutional mandate of auditing all accounts of the Federation to nip corruption in the bud, ensure transparency in government transactions.
“The Bill will address acute manpower shortage existing in the Office of the Auditor- General for the Federation and bring it in tandem with Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) and international best practices as obtained in other climes such as South Africa, Ghana and United Kingdom,” he said.
The Bill
The Bill was passed by the House of Representatives on April 19, 2016 and transmitted to the Senate for concurrence while the upper legislative chamber passed it on May 1, 2018.
Senator Urhoghide explained that after reconciling areas of differences by the Conference Committee set up by both chambers, the harmonized copy was forwarded to Mr. President, for his assent on January 8, 2019.
He informed that the bill has spent over four months on the table of President Buhari, who neither assented nor declined assent to it.
Source: VON
