Workers warns against imposition of Auditor General at FCT Area Councils Audit Secretariat

By Ukpono Ukpong

There are indications that workers at the Secretariat of the Auditor General for Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Councils may revolt over imposition of Auditor General on them.

Investigation revealed that the workers are aggrieved that past FCT Ministers and the Permanent Secretaries have always neglected the pioneer staff members in the appointment of Auditor General.

It was learnt that the office, which has existed since creation in 1992, has a crop of qualified Chartered Accountants, who have also gotten so much on-the -job training, but FCTA, rather than selecting an Auditor General from among them, has always preferred people from outside the system to head them, a situation that is responsible for apathy among the workers.

A visit to the office, located in the highbrow Central Business District of Abuja, revealed a sorry state of the facilities, while workers attitude, apparently showed low motivation.

Some of the pioneer staff who have spent about 30years in the system and also understand the internal mechanism of the office, expressed displeasure that FCT Administration have continue to waste human resources, it spent tax payers funds to train.

They wondered why the administration will keep taking decisions that are counterproductive and also in variance with the reforms which the Head of Service of the Federation is implementing.

Inside source revealed that the present acting Auditor General for FCT Area Councils, who is a senior staff of the office, has just one year to retirement.

It was gathered that a standard civil service rule stipulates that whoever that should be appointed as the Auditor General of the office, must have a minimum of 4 years to retirement.

Credible source disclosed that the staff have became aghast over speculation that the FCTA Permanent Secretary was planning to nominate an complete outsider and impose on them as Auditor General.

Investigation has revealed that should FCTA decide to impose another person from outside the system to head the office, the senior staff who have served for 30 years there, may sabotage work progress of the office.

A public service experts, Dr. Dickson Ezecheta, said it was ” miscalculated investment to spend public funds to train workers on a particular job line, and abandon them when there is need to use them.

” How can a government agency spend so much money to train its staff, but will look elsewhere, despising qualified hands there, when there is need for higher service.

Ezecheta has called on FCT Minister and the Permanent Secretary to consider qualified Chartered Accountants who have grown in the agency and also understand the inner workings of it, as the next Auditor General.