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In spite of the constitutional provision, theOffice of the Auditor-General for the Federation is yet to publish the Audited Accounts of the Federal Government (AuGF) for 2020 and 2021.
Checks at the weekend revealed thatattributed the breach to the secret struggle among senior officers for who becomes the nextAuGF, following the retirement of Adolphus Aghughu in September 2022.
Section 85(5) of the 1999 Constitution mandates agencies of government to submit their audited reports to the Office of the AuGF not later thanMay 31 every year.
The sectionreads:“The Auditor-General shall, within 90days of receipt of the Accountant-General’s financial statement, submit his reports under this section to each House of the National Assembly and each House shall cause the reports to be considered by a committee of the House of the National Assembly responsible for public accounts.”
However, checks at the weekend showed that while the 2019 audit report on the consolidated revenue for the government was submitted to the National Assembly in September 2022, there was no indication that the 2020 and 2021 audited accounts were submitted to the lawmakers.
A source in the AuGF, who did not want his name in print, said: “As you are aware, the former Auditor-General retired in September and before he left, he recommended Ogochukwu Onwudili, who was director of Audit to act as the Auditor General pending the appointment of a substantive one.
“Since the retirement of Aghughu, there has been a silent struggle among the directors on who becomes the substantive Auditor- General.
”The battle for who becomes the Auditor-General is intense as the government has thrown the seat open to all qualified directors in the federal civil service. So, those within are doing everything possible to be considered.
”The government requested qualified directors of Audit in the OAuGF to apply for the vacant position..
“So, right now, they(directors) are not very concerned about submitting the reports. Their interest right now has been on who takes over the positionand not on the publications of the 2020 and 2021 audit reports.”
On the implications of the non-publication, the source said: “It isnot clear what the implication of late submission of such report to the National Assemblyis as the Constitution is silent on it.” (The Nation)
