NIGERIAN President Muhammadu Buhari says ineffective audits had contributed to the problems of governance in Nigeria over the years, stressing that the hallmark of his administration remains good governance, accountability and transparency.
“I will remind you that under-performance by auditors, or ineffective audits, contribute largely to governance problems. Auditors, therefore, need to decide not to be part of the problem but the arrow to the solution,” he said.
Buhari said this while giving remarks at the second edition of the conference of Auditors-General in Nigeria on Tuesday, urging auditors to make use of available audit tools including financial compliance, performance and Information Technology audits to fight corruption.
The President noted the role of auditors in the ‘fight against corruption’ crusade of his administration.
”As accountability institutions in the Federal, states and local governments, and as the institutions empowered under the Constitution to review the financial performance of public officers even where there has been no petition or allegation, you are uniquely placed to tackle corrupt practices.
”Through your audit findings and recommendations, corrupt practices would be discovered early and loopholes blocked before they are exploited,” Buhari said.
He urged auditors to stick to the professional conduct of their operations with an emphasis on timeliness and adequate audit of public services.
He said public servants should not be “afraid of audit if they have done the right thing” and encouraged them to see it as a means of improving their performance.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94