About three weeks ago, my friend, Olusegun Elemo, and I had an hour-long conversation about Nigeria’s draft federal audit bill. Olusegun is the executive director of PLSI, one of Nigeria’s foremost and leading voices on audit reforms. His group has pioneered several federal and subnational efforts to improve public audits and strengthen audit institutions. He sounded quite frustrated that Nigeria was on the verge of losing another opportunity to modernize its audit law. The struggle for a new audit law is as old as the current republic. Since 1999, at least three attempts have been made. On each occasion, the National Assembly passed the bill, but presidential assent was denied or withheld under Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan, and Muhammadu Buhari. Segun and I agree that the Federal Audit Service Bill deserves more public attention than it has received. First, public audit is critical to Nigeria’s state formation and development. The current inability of the Nigerian state to provide for the majority of the people is closely tied to its inability to account for what it appropriates. A state that is good at appropriating and poor at accounting for its appropriations cannot reasonably transform the country. Second, functional audit is closely tied to government legitimacy and, by extension, to public confidence and support for democracy. According to a recent Afrobarometer report, roughly 70 per cent of Nigerians are unhappy with the way Nigeria’s democracy is currently being run. Nigeria can improve the legitimacy of its democracy by strengthening critical accountability infrastructure that enhances the state’s ability to translate promises into opportunities and tangible improvements in living conditions. When Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999, the federal budget appropriation was roughly N305 billion. Today, the federal budget has grown to over N68 trillion. In less than three decades, Nigeria has built a vastly larger fiscal state. The government now collects more revenue, borrows more money, undertakes more programmes, and manages far greater public resources than at any other time in our history. Yet the critical accountability infrastructure needed to convert these gains into tangible dividends for citizens has been ignored by successive administrations. Over the past 25 years, successive administrations have modernised nearly every component of Nigeria’s public financial management system. We established the ICPC and the EFCC. We enacted the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the Public Procurement Act. We introduced the Treasury Single Account, GIFMIS, and IPPIS. We strengthened tax administration. We expanded transparency in the extractive sector through NEITI. More recently, President Tinubu’s administration has pursued comprehensive tax reforms and macroeconomic restructuring to build a larger, more competitive economy. Yet the “last mile” of public finance management, the federal audit system, remains trapped in an outdated, inconsistent framework that leaves a dangerous gap in our laws. There is consensus on the need for a new audit bill to replace the colonial Audit Ordinance of 1956, which has continued to regulate public audits in Nigeria. The Constitution establishes the Auditor-General for the Federation (AuGF) and provides an outline of the mandate and independence, but it does not define the detailed processes, coverage, sanctions, and protections that a credible audit system requires. The Federal Audit Service Bill is intended to fill this gap and translate constitutional principles into an effective, contemporary audit regime. So why has the audit rule, a critical pillar of accountability, been the biggest victim of Nigeria’s elite politics? Public audit is often misunderstood. It is not an anti-corruption agency. It does not prosecute offenders. Nor is it simply an accounting exercise conducted after money has been spent. Instead, it is one of democracy’s principal constitutional safeguards. It provides the parliament and citizens with independent assurance that public resources have been managed in accordance with the law. It is a critical element of the social contract in a democracy. It ensures that taxpayers receive value for money. Without a credible audit, budget appropriations risk becoming private allocations for private benefits. The irony is particularly striking in the case of President Tinubu. Throughout his public life, he has presented himself as an accountant, a fiscal reformer, and an institution builder. His administration has shown political courage by pursuing reforms that previous governments deemed too costly, including removing fuel subsidies, implementing exchange-rate reforms, and pursuing ambitious tax reforms. But every accountant understands that sound public financial management rests on two inseparable pillars. The first is raising public revenue. The second is assuring citizens that public expenditure is lawful, econ
Don't miss out on breaking stories and in-depth articles.
