The Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation of Nigeria presented its first locally trained Performance Auditors for graduation on the 20th of September 2013.
The training is a product of the agreement signed in July 2012 between The Auditor-General for the Federation (AGF), Mr Samuel Ukura, and his Namibian counterpart, Mr Junias Kandjeke to strengthen cooperation on performance auditing in accordance with AFROSAI –E regional cooperation activities among SAIs.
It is also the product of the relentless effort of the AGF Nigeria who is eager to see that SAI Nigeria is in compliance with International requirements that SAI establishes a specialized performance audit unit big enough to sustain performance audit activities on a continuous basis and to develop a performance audit culture.
Mr. S. O. Ajao on behalf of the department welcomed the Auditor-General of Namibia, his staff and management staff of OAuGF to the historic event.
The Basic module (first module) was conducted between July 23rd to 3rd August 2012. The second module was presented in October 2-12, 2012, while the third module was presented in September 9-19,2013.
During the course, the participants were divided into 5 teams with four officers in each team. Each of the teams was given an audit topic. It is expected that with this new audit, the Office of the Auditor-General will be gaining greater insights into the running of operations and outcome of audited entities’ activities. OAuGF will also be able to produce credible Performance Audit Reports that make recommendation for improvements.
Some senior officers had been trained in performance audit in United States in the past, while the first set of four (4) AFROSAI-E trained officers under the administration of the AGF had also earlier graduated at AFROSAI-E Secretariat in South Africa. This indeed is a solid foundation for the Performance Audit Division within the SAI.
The Auditor General of Namibia Mr. Junias Kandjeke in his address stated that “Performance audit has become more and more important in SAIs in various countries, even more so in Africa, to ensure good governance… The reason for performance audits becoming more important is because these audits are topical and interesting and that is why there is a bigger demand from the public and the PACs for performance audits and performance audit reports’’.
According to him "SAI Namibia is willing to continue with the monitoring of progress being made by the performance auditors in Nigeria.’’
The Auditor-General for the Federation, Mr Samuel Ukura in his address commended his counterpart AG Namibia and high level of commitment throughout the course. He also appreciated, all the Performance Auditors and the project coordinator Mrs. P.O. Odusanya, a Deputy Director in OAuGF, for their commitment and passion and charged them to ensure that the skills acquired are fully utilised for effective planning, execution and reporting of performance audits.
Performance audits are audits of the economy, efficiency or effectiveness with which the audited entity use its resources to achieve its goals.