By Clifford Ndujihe & Levinus Nwabughiogu
Disturbed by the rot and thriving corruption in the
civil service, which has cost the country trillions of naira,
President Muhammadu Buhari has taken his anti-graft war
to the sector.
He has ordered that all outstanding audit queries which had
piled up over the years be resolved within the next 30 days.
Confirming the presidential directive, Senior Special
Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, Malam
Garba Shehu, said the unanswered audit queries sounded
unsavoury to the President who, on hearing it, expressed his
displeasure.
An audit query is the request for an explanation by the
Auditor-General of the Federation over improprieties
discovered in the Accountant-General of the Federation’s
report. The report is done quarterly.
By law (Civil Services Re-organization Decree No. 43 of
1988), the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation
supervises the accounts of federal
and extra-ministerial department; collates, presents and
publishes statutory financial statements of account required
by the Minister of Finance; conducts routine and in-depth
inspection of the books of accounts of federal ministries and
extra-ministerial department to ensure compliance with
rules, regulations, policies, and internal audit guides;
investigates cases of fraud, loss of funds, assets and store
items and other financial malpractices in ministries/extra-
ministerial department; ensures revenue monitoring and
accounting; provides a system for the monitoring of the
accounts of all Ministries, Departments and Agencies and
ensures timely submission of all financial statements to the
Auditor-General of the Federation.
If the Auditor-General is dissatisfied with the reports, he
issues queries. Audit queries are also used to check fraud as
the ‘ghost workers’ phenomenon.
Over time, an avalanche of these queries have not been
answered, a development that has created a huge tunnel for
graft through unaccounted expenditures, misappropriation
and miscalculation of funds running into trillions of naira.
The measure is used to check unspent budgets, which are
expected to be returned to the treasury.
Following the disappointing manner the queries were
handled, President Buhari directed that any civil servant
who failed to answer audit queries within 24 hours,
henceforth, would face a disciplinary action.
These are part of the marching orders Buhari gave the
Auditor-General of the Federation, Vanguard gathered.
The orders followed the discovery of a plethora of
unanswered audit queries which spanned a long period of
time, running into years, under previous administrations.
Era of impunity is gone
Garba Shehu stated that President Buhari was irrevocably
committed to tackling administrative and bureaucratic
corruption head-on.
He said: “The era of impunity is gone. The President is taking
the war on corruption to the civil service. He is not happy
that standard operating procedures and financial
regulations are no longer being observed as they should.
“President Buhari will ensure that public officials and civil
servants in the service of the Federal Government pay a
heavy price from now on for violating financial regulations
or disregarding audit queries.”
He added that the President was determined to put an end
to the present situation in which, rather than respond to
legitimate audit queries, violators of financial regulations in
the Federal. Government resort to threatening, bribing or
mounting other forms of social pressures on auditors.
“On his watch, President Buhari wants to see firm action
against those who violate extant financial regulations, not
the prevarications and shenanigans that went on in the past
in the form of endless probes and public inquiries,”
the
Presidential spokesman said.
Probe Siemens, Halliburton, other scandals, Igbo leaders
urge Buhari
This came as Igbo leaders on the plank of Igbo Leaders of
Thought, ILT, led by Professor Ben Nwabueze (SAN) urged
President Buhari to extend his probe of past administrations
to 1999.
However, the call to extend the probe beyond the Dr
Goodluck Jonathan’s administration was opposed by former
Minister of State for Education, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi,
who argued that late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and
Jonathan should have probed the former President
Olusegun Obasanjo regime, if they had any issues with his
government.
Commending President Buhari over his anti-graft war and
calling on all Nigerians to support the crusade in the interest
of the country, the Igbo leaders, however, said that making
the probe extensive will lead to a “change that will endure.”
In a statement by Evangelist Elliot Uko, Deputy Secretary,
ILT, founder, Igbo Youth Movement, IYM, and Leader, South-
East Democratic Coalition, SEDC, the Igbo leaders said: ‘’The
promise of change to the ugly manner things have been
done in our country for decades, inspires hope among the
citizenry.
“Talk about probe, prosecution and the eventual return of
looted funds to the coffers of government is a wonderful,
exciting and a most welcome idea.
“President Buhari’s corrupt-free image goes a long way here
to inspire hope and confidence that this exercise will help
send the necessary signal to public officials, that the era of
mindless looting and siphoning of public funds is over.
“We support the probe, prosecution of looters and return of
all stolen common wealth of Nigerians over the years. We
also ask our countrymen to support this needful and timely
exercise.
“But we have two worries:
-Firstly, we plead that the exercise
be totally free of political vendetta as that would taint the
credibility of the whole exercise.
-Secondly, we wonder why
the exercise would be restricted only to the immediate past
regime. Does that mean that the notorious Siemens and
Halliburton bribery scandals have been rested forever?
“Are we saying that the glaring corrupt cases of 1999-2007
are closed cases? Is it morally right to target only the last
regime while exonerating the 1999-2007 sleaze-infested
regime? Will the deliberate isolation of the last regime alone
for probe not give the impression of a political vendetta?
Why is it so compelling to look away and leave out the
1999-2007 era?
“We conclude by pleading with our countrymen to support
the probe because corruption remains one of the four great
problems facing our country. Others are ethnicity and
nepotism, religious bigotry and the mother of all problems:
unjust political structure.
“It is important we thoughtfully appraise the impact of
singling out only one regime for probe and prosecution
while giving others a clean bill of health.
“The exercise must not be seen as political and divisive, as
the essence and noble goal will be lost. If the change we
profess is real, then false starts must be avoided.’’
Buhari has no business probing Obasanjo’s regime
—Gbagi
Opposing the extension of the probe to Obasanjo’s
administration, Gbagi said: “Whatever was done in 1999,
there was a president before this president. It was the duty
of Jonathan to have probed the government that he took
over from. Buhari has no business going to a government
which is not back-to-back with him. The Jonathan
administration is back-to-back with him.
“Whatever negativity there was with regards to the
Jonathan’s government will have effect on the Buhari
government. Buhari cannot be going to the 1999 regime.
What concerns him by law and every fact of life is the
Jonathan’s government.”
.
Disturbed by the rot and thriving corruption in the
civil service, which has cost the country trillions of naira,
President Muhammadu Buhari has taken his anti-graft war
to the sector.
He has ordered that all outstanding audit queries which had
piled up over the years be resolved within the next 30 days.
Confirming the presidential directive, Senior Special
Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, Malam
Garba Shehu, said the unanswered audit queries sounded
unsavoury to the President who, on hearing it, expressed his
displeasure.
An audit query is the request for an explanation by the
Auditor-General of the Federation over improprieties
discovered in the Accountant-General of the Federation’s
report. The report is done quarterly.
By law (Civil Services Re-organization Decree No. 43 of
1988), the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation
supervises the accounts of federal
and extra-ministerial department; collates, presents and
publishes statutory financial statements of account required
by the Minister of Finance; conducts routine and in-depth
inspection of the books of accounts of federal ministries and
extra-ministerial department to ensure compliance with
rules, regulations, policies, and internal audit guides;
investigates cases of fraud, loss of funds, assets and store
items and other financial malpractices in ministries/extra-
ministerial department; ensures revenue monitoring and
accounting; provides a system for the monitoring of the
accounts of all Ministries, Departments and Agencies and
ensures timely submission of all financial statements to the
Auditor-General of the Federation.
If the Auditor-General is dissatisfied with the reports, he
issues queries. Audit queries are also used to check fraud as
the ‘ghost workers’ phenomenon.
Over time, an avalanche of these queries have not been
answered, a development that has created a huge tunnel for
graft through unaccounted expenditures, misappropriation
and miscalculation of funds running into trillions of naira.
The measure is used to check unspent budgets, which are
expected to be returned to the treasury.
Following the disappointing manner the queries were
handled, President Buhari directed that any civil servant
who failed to answer audit queries within 24 hours,
henceforth, would face a disciplinary action.
These are part of the marching orders Buhari gave the
Auditor-General of the Federation, Vanguard gathered.
The orders followed the discovery of a plethora of
unanswered audit queries which spanned a long period of
time, running into years, under previous administrations.
Era of impunity is gone
Garba Shehu stated that President Buhari was irrevocably
committed to tackling administrative and bureaucratic
corruption head-on.
He said: “The era of impunity is gone. The President is taking
the war on corruption to the civil service. He is not happy
that standard operating procedures and financial
regulations are no longer being observed as they should.
“President Buhari will ensure that public officials and civil
servants in the service of the Federal Government pay a
heavy price from now on for violating financial regulations
or disregarding audit queries.”
He added that the President was determined to put an end
to the present situation in which, rather than respond to
legitimate audit queries, violators of financial regulations in
the Federal. Government resort to threatening, bribing or
mounting other forms of social pressures on auditors.
“On his watch, President Buhari wants to see firm action
against those who violate extant financial regulations, not
the prevarications and shenanigans that went on in the past
in the form of endless probes and public inquiries,”
the
Presidential spokesman said.
Probe Siemens, Halliburton, other scandals, Igbo leaders
urge Buhari
This came as Igbo leaders on the plank of Igbo Leaders of
Thought, ILT, led by Professor Ben Nwabueze (SAN) urged
President Buhari to extend his probe of past administrations
to 1999.
However, the call to extend the probe beyond the Dr
Goodluck Jonathan’s administration was opposed by former
Minister of State for Education, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi,
who argued that late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and
Jonathan should have probed the former President
Olusegun Obasanjo regime, if they had any issues with his
government.
Commending President Buhari over his anti-graft war and
calling on all Nigerians to support the crusade in the interest
of the country, the Igbo leaders, however, said that making
the probe extensive will lead to a “change that will endure.”
In a statement by Evangelist Elliot Uko, Deputy Secretary,
ILT, founder, Igbo Youth Movement, IYM, and Leader, South-
East Democratic Coalition, SEDC, the Igbo leaders said: ‘’The
promise of change to the ugly manner things have been
done in our country for decades, inspires hope among the
citizenry.
“Talk about probe, prosecution and the eventual return of
looted funds to the coffers of government is a wonderful,
exciting and a most welcome idea.
“President Buhari’s corrupt-free image goes a long way here
to inspire hope and confidence that this exercise will help
send the necessary signal to public officials, that the era of
mindless looting and siphoning of public funds is over.
“We support the probe, prosecution of looters and return of
all stolen common wealth of Nigerians over the years. We
also ask our countrymen to support this needful and timely
exercise.
“But we have two worries:
-Firstly, we plead that the exercise
be totally free of political vendetta as that would taint the
credibility of the whole exercise.
-Secondly, we wonder why
the exercise would be restricted only to the immediate past
regime. Does that mean that the notorious Siemens and
Halliburton bribery scandals have been rested forever?
“Are we saying that the glaring corrupt cases of 1999-2007
are closed cases? Is it morally right to target only the last
regime while exonerating the 1999-2007 sleaze-infested
regime? Will the deliberate isolation of the last regime alone
for probe not give the impression of a political vendetta?
Why is it so compelling to look away and leave out the
1999-2007 era?
“We conclude by pleading with our countrymen to support
the probe because corruption remains one of the four great
problems facing our country. Others are ethnicity and
nepotism, religious bigotry and the mother of all problems:
unjust political structure.
“It is important we thoughtfully appraise the impact of
singling out only one regime for probe and prosecution
while giving others a clean bill of health.
“The exercise must not be seen as political and divisive, as
the essence and noble goal will be lost. If the change we
profess is real, then false starts must be avoided.’’
Buhari has no business probing Obasanjo’s regime
—Gbagi
Opposing the extension of the probe to Obasanjo’s
administration, Gbagi said: “Whatever was done in 1999,
there was a president before this president. It was the duty
of Jonathan to have probed the government that he took
over from. Buhari has no business going to a government
which is not back-to-back with him. The Jonathan
administration is back-to-back with him.
“Whatever negativity there was with regards to the
Jonathan’s government will have effect on the Buhari
government. Buhari cannot be going to the 1999 regime.
What concerns him by law and every fact of life is the
Jonathan’s government.”
.
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