TheCable

The Centre for Social Justice and Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI) has urged the nation’s anti-graft agencies to pay more attention to the annual reports from the auditor-general of the federation.

TheCable had reported how the presidency was indicted in the 2016 report.

Speaking at an accountability dialogue in Abuja on Tuesday, Chinedu Onyekere, executive director of the centre, said “massive corruption” reflected in the report is always overlooked by the agencies.

Onyekere said Nigeria’s fight against corruption is not effective because “nobody is taking the auditor-general seriously”.

“It is only the auditor-general’s office and the code of conduct bureau that is provided for in the constitution,” he said.

“Other anti-graft agencies like the EFCC and ICPC are in place by mere pronouncements. But there seems to be more focus on these other two agencies.

“The fact that the anti-corruption struggle is not going as it should is because nobody is taking the auditor-general seriously.

“The ICPC and EFCC don’t need to look far and wide. What they need to do, first of all, is pick up this audit report because the materials are so voluminous. But they are overlooking the massive corruption always reported in these reports.

“So, there is that need for collaboration between these anti-corruption agencies and the pillars of integrity including civil society organisations and the media.”

He advocated for the appointment of the auditor-general by the joint national assembly committee on public accounts, rather than by the president.

“The auditor-general should be seen as a representative of the legislative authority to guarantee public accountability and transparency since most of the reports he is auditing is on the side of the executive,” he said.