Why audit system fails to curb corruption
Sir: For decades, Nigeria’s anti-corruption strategy has leaned heavily on the catch and jail model, spearheaded by high-profile law enforcement agencies. Yet, a more fundamental, preventive tool remains dangerously blunt:
- By Paul Dasimeokuma
Sir: For decades, Nigeria’s anti-corruption strategy has leaned heavily on the catch and jail model, spearheaded by high-profile law enforcement agencies. Yet, a more fundamental, preventive tool remains dangerously blunt: the public sector audit. While the Auditor-General for the Federation (AuGF) is constitutionally mandated to be the watchdog of the nation’s treasury, the office currently functions more like a toothless barker than a biting guardian.
The sobering reality is that Nigeria’s federal auditing framework is still anchored by the 1957 Audit Ordinance, a colonial-era relic that predates national independence. This legislative fossil provides no enforcement powers and denies the auditor-general true independence from the very executive arm it is tasked to monitor. Without a modern legal foundation, the office lacks the autonomy to recruit its own staff, manage its own budget, or issue binding sanctions.
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This systemic weakness has resulted in a massive reporting backlog that acts as a dark room where mismanagement thrives. As of early 2026, the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was forced to issue stern directives for the submission of outstanding financial statements spanning 2023 through 2025. These delays are not merely bureaucratic; they are a strategic veil. When audit reports are released three or four years late, the trails have gone cold and the officials responsible for infractions have often vacated their positions, leaving accountability out of reach.
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The consequences of this tap on the wrist culture are staggering. Recent findings indicted major entities, such as the NNPCL, for unauthorised deductions totalling billions of Naira. Yet, without the power to sanction, these indictments often result in little more than a report gathering dust in legislative committee rooms.
The failure of the audit system is directly visible in Nigeria’s soaring debt profile. The nation is increasingly forced to borrow not just for development, but to plug holes created by unrecovered funds. If the billions leaked through unremitted revenues, inflated contracts, and unretired advances were recovered through a functional, empowered audit process, the pressure on the national treasury would significantly ease. Effective auditing is, therefore, a prerequisite for debt sustainability.
To move from mere exposure to actual accountability, the enactment of a robust Federal Audit Service Bill is non-negotiable. This legislation must grant the AuGF statutory independence and the authority to penalise defaulting agencies directly.
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Furthermore, a constitutional amendment to Sections 85–87 is required to compel executive and legislative responses to audit queries within fixed, non-negotiable timelines. Accountability cannot remain a matter of political convenience or administrative discretion. It must be a mandatory, time-bound constitutional obligation. Until the Auditor-General is legally empowered to bite, the nation’s primary watchdog will remain a mere spectator to the ongoing mismanagement of public wealth.
•Paul Dasimeokuma,
Centre for Social Justice, Abuja.
