STAKEHOLDERS in Nigeria’s anti-corruption ecosystem have identified weak sanctions, poor enforcement of audit reports and outdated legal frameworks as major challenges undermining the country’s fight against corruption.
They spoke, yesterday, at the public presentation of the ‘Audit Opportunities Assessment Study’ by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), with support from the European Union–funded Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) Programme, in Abuja.
Speaking at the event, the Chairman of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), Victor Muruako, said the study was timely, given the urgent need to ensure that public resources are effectively and efficiently utilised in delivering public services and the “dividends of democracy.”
Muruako, who was represented by the Commission’s Director of Legal Services, Investigation and Enforcement, Charles Abana, said the event underscored CSJ’s sustained commitment to strengthening accountability and transparency in governance through data- and knowledge-driven tools.
He noted that the effective identification and utilisation of audit opportunities in the public service would promote transparency and accountability, improve efficiency, reduce waste, curb corruption and misuse of public funds, enhance revenue recovery, and boost citizens’ participation in governance.
“The main objectives and benefits of identifying and utilising audit opportunities in the public service on a regular basis include the promotion of transparency and accountability; improving efficiency and preventing wastage, reducing corruption and misuse of public funds,” he stated.
In his presentation, Lead Director of CSJ, Eze Onyekpere, said the Audit Opportunities Assessment Study examined the political economy dimensions of auditing and uncovered deep-rooted structural issues responsible for audit failure in Nigeria.
Onyekpere lamented that although the Auditor-General and the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly produce audit reports yearly, there’s little or no follow-up on infractions.
He also decried the absence of a modern federal audit law, noting that Nigeria “still relies on the obsolete 1957 Audit Law, even as several states have enacted updated audit laws” under the CFTAS programme.
“This is a public presentation of the audit assessment study. In this study, we had to look deeper into the surrounding circumstances and issues that have inhibited audit effectiveness, and we examined the political economy dimensions.
“Beyond confirming the level of fraud in the system, we were able to identify the core and critical issues that have made audits ineffective. One major finding that came out is that there are no sanctions, no punishments for violations,” he stated.
According to him, if you have a law that says “don’t do this,” but if you do it, there is no sanction, then people will take advantage of that.
“Nobody is interested in ensuring that laws and policies are implemented to the letter, and auditing simply becomes an exercise in report writing,” he asserted.
Also, the Project Manager for the Anti-Corruption Component of the European Union and International IDEA, Dr Emmanuel Uche, said the study underscored the central role of audit reforms in combating corruption.
He said: “There is no way we can claim to be fighting corruption without the involvement of the Auditor-General’s Office and the Public Accounts Committee.
“As much as flies like rotten meat, no fly will perch on rotten meat that is on fire. The audit institution is supposed to put fire on the system to ensure accountability.”
He observed that opacity, lack of oversight, and delayed review of audit reports, sometimes years after publication, weakened accountability and allowed corruption to persist.
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