The Secretariat of African Organization of Supreme Audit Institution Working Group on Environmental Audit (AFROSAI WGEA) organized a 5 day physical meeting of the Coordinated Audit of the Niger River from the 31st July to 4th August, 2023 in Douala, Cameroun.
The main objective of the meeting was to deliberate on the Audit of the Niger River Basin which is at its reporting stage and review the country draft reports of the participating Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs). The Audit is to access, examine and verify whether the member countries comply with the NBA Charter and various regulations governing the management of the Niger River.
It was in this regard that the participants made presentations of their respective SAIs. Participants included representatives from SAIs of member states which include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Tchad.
At the opening ceremony, Mr. Hassan Idi, a representative of SAI Cameroun and the head of AFROSAI which is the parent body of AFROSAI WGEA extended a warm welcome to all the participants, expressing his sincere wishes for a successful deliberation.
The Head of the AFROSAI WGEA Secretariat, Mr. Abbey O.E. stated that the participants were in Douala to review draft reports of SAIs to ensure compliance with the Audit Design Matrix and reporting template.The meeting was also to identify the actual status, strengths and challenges of the SAIs.
During the five days, the participants made presentations on the focus area of the Audit, the findings consisting of the Criteria, Conditions, Cause and Consequences. The expert, Mr. Michael Malabeja of SAI Tanzania was also on hand to answer questions, offer advice on how to improve on the reports and made presentations on evidence gathering and elements of a standard finding.
There were concrete resolutions made by the participants but supervised by the expert. Part of the resolution was that all SAIs must endeavor to complete their report by the end of the year which is 31st December 2023 with emphasis that a progress report will be done on a monthly basis. The AFROSAI WGEA Secretariat will devise a reporting mechanism. The countries also agreed that they will support one another in other in terms of knowledge and experience sharing as well as capacity development.
The meeting was facilitated by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in collaboration with the concerned member countries.
The meeting ended with closing statements by the Secretariat expressing appreciation to all participants for their efforts and the quality of their inputs.
EME IKA IKA OQUA
Head, Press and Public Relations
7th August, 2023
