Head of Service and Permanent Secretaries visit OAuGF

The Head of Civil Service of the Federation and Permanent Secretaries of the peer-review team visited the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (OAuGF) on Tuesday, 10 September, 2013. The visit was part of the on-going peer review mechanism put in place by the Federal Government to increase intra-government awareness, engagement and co-operation.

The Head of Service (HoS) and his entourage were received in the Conference Hall of the Audit House, the new 8-storey office complex of the OAuGF by the Auditor-General for the Federation (AuGF) and his Directorate Staff. The AuGF, Mr Samuel Ukura welcomed the visitors and thanked them for finding time for the visit despite their busy schedules. In a 25-minute presentation he delivered, the AuGF talked about the establishment of the Office by the Audit Act, 1958 (Cap. 17) of the laws of the Federation.  He said the Office derives its existence, powers, duties and responsibilities from Sections 85-87 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999. He underscored the principal function of the Office which is to promote accountability in management of public funds, ensure financial management and auditing of government statutory Corporation, Commissions, Authorities and Agencies. He briefed the visitors on effort to transform the Office through the on-going Constitutional review to make it fully independent.  He highlighted the audit functions of the Office and the new audit areas that have been started such as Performance Audit, Environmental Audit and IT Audit to boost the rating, standard and performance of the office. The critical challenge he underscored was funding. He indicated that while the national budget is increasing that of the OAuGF is decreasing even with increasing portfolio of responsibilities.

Responding, the HoS, Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji thanked the AuGF for the warm reception. He congratulated the AuGF for the new Office and expressed happiness that they could also “audit the Auditor-General by this visit”. He expressed hope that the independence of the Office will be realized as soon as possible to enable the Office perform its duties better.

There was a question and answer session after which the visitors were taken on a tour of facilities within the building.