Good governance: AuGF tasks auditors on anti-corruption crusade

The Auditor-General for the Federation, Mr. Anthony Mkpe Ayine has charged the staff of the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (OAuGF) and other auditors in the country to discharge their duties with diligence and commitment to be impact value their value to the fight against corruption by President Buhari administration.

Ayine gave this charge during the launch of the OAuGF Regularity Audit Guide, Code of Conduct and Ethics, Quality Control and Assurance Manual and the OAuGF E – Learning Portal in Abuja.

The Deputy Director Media and Public Relations, Mrs. Olawunmi Ogunmosunle, in a statement, said the launch was in continuation of the implementation of the road map towards re-positioning and reform of the OAuGF, to fulfil its constitutional mandate.

The Strategic Development Plan was launched a week ago by Oresident Muhammafu Buhari.

The Auditor-General identified skill deficit as a major handicap to the delivery of high quality audits. According to him “auditors must always be a step ahead of accountants because you cannot audit what you don’t know”.

He expressed optimism that the launch was one major step towards improving the skill base of the Office.

He said that the office with the support of Department for International Development (DFID) has prepared materials to help to train up the staff of the office in addition to training programmes for the use of the new methods.

Ayeni cautioned that auditors that do not take the opportunity to improve their skills and re-dedicate to honest work would find themselves obsolete within a short period.

He expressed his expectation of “auditors with right skills to do a thorough job in line with international best practices.”

He reiterated that Auditors must have integrity and objectivity to conclude their job and report all their findings in full. They must be knowledgeable, skilful, diligent, of high integrity and impactful through their quality deliverables”.

The former Chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, (ICPC) Mr. Ekpo Nta in his key note address challenged the OAuGF to take up its constitutional role and lead the anti – corruption war in the country.

He observed that OAuGF has failed to make serious impact because of its inability to improve on the system over the years.

According to him if the Office performs its duties properly as assigned to it by the constitution there would not be need for the ICPC and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Mr Nta observed that some of the actions we take have serious consequences for us as individuals, the family and the country in the long run. He therefore charged auditors to be ready to rebrand, re-orientate their minds in line with the ethics of the profession and know that their assignment is a constitutional role that goes beyond the Auditor-General and the President.

The former ICPC Chairman reminded auditors of their role as key drivers of growth of the economy. He therefore advised that “As auditors, we must come to the realization that Audit-Report is not meant to destroy, but to build. We must also carry out our roles as auditors in line with the ethics of the civil service, to stem the level of decay that the nation is experiencing today.”

Mathew Dadiya, Abuja