CSO demands release of FCT audit reports
To present a boost to transparency and accountability in the administration of public funds, a civic organisation, Paradigm Management Toughen Initiative (PLSI), has known as on the Auditor-Traditional for the Federation (OAuGF) to as we declare initiating audit reports on the accounts of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) for the fiscal years 2020 to 2023.
This follows over four months of silence after an fantastic Freedom of Knowledge ask used to be submitted on February 11, 2025, requesting salvage admission to to the reports, based on the provisions of the Freedom of Knowledge (FOI) Act 2011.
The Executive Director of PLSI, Mr Segun Elemo, at some stage in a press briefing in Abuja, stated, “We had since February 2025, four months in the past, written to the Auditor-Traditional for the Federation, whose responsibility it is to audit accounts of the FCT.”
“No matter the determined lawful provisions of the FOI Act and Nigeria’s dedication to openness and transparency, the House of enterprise of the Auditor-Traditional for the Federation has now not spoke back to the ask or equipped salvage admission to to the requested audit reports,” he harassed.
Elemo raised notify over the culture of opacity round public finance administration, in particular at a time when public believe in govt institutions is at an all-time low.
He stated, “It is a ways even extra touching on given contemporary trends in which the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, defended spending N39billion of public funds on the renovation of the World Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja, a project that has attracted huge criticism attributable to its brand and shortage of contracting facts.”
Elemo stated they originate now not get dangle of issues with the contemporary FCT administration, as their ask is the audit scream between 2021 and 2023, announcing they goal to be obvious the tremendous spending of public funds
He also criticised the National Assembly for abandoning the Federal Audit Service Bill, which targets to reform public income accounts, bringing up that outdated governments had refused to signal the Bill into rules. Furthermore, the contemporary Senate has also did now not give concurrence to it, in spite of its passage by the House of Representatives since October 2023.
Elemo stated, “It is a ways appealing to know that the identical National Assembly has hurriedly concluded legislative actions on the tax reform bills and transmitted them to the President for assent. Conversely, it is completely frustrating that public officers can even be spending plenty cash and enthusiastic to tax the folks even extra, with no responsibility to fable for the cash.”
He bemoaned that the usage of the worn Audit Ordinance Act of 1956 to fable for public funds in 2025 is unhealthy to democracy and unacceptable.
The ES reiterated that the audit functions are now not an afterthought, and audit reports are now not confidential memos for public officers most efficient, but public interest paperwork the biggest for evaluating how successfully the promises embedded in budgets get dangle of translated into proper provide and affect.
PLSI told electorate, civil society organisations, the media, and kind partners to join the resolution for greater transparency in the audit course of at national and subnational ranges, announcing that to live corruption and strengthen provide of products and services to electorate, audits must matter to everyone.
