UK Expresses Support for Nigeria’s Ant-corruption Agenda

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

The British government has expressed its readiness to support the anti-corruption agenda of the federal government by building the capacity of relevant agencies .

The Team Leader, UK Department for International Development (DFID) and Senior Economic Adviser, Mr. Richard Ough gave the assurance in Abuja on Monday at the opening ceremony of a weeklong capacity building training programme organised by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation (OAuGF ) in conjunction with DFID and the UK National Audit Office (NAO).

Ough observed that the UK was supportive of the anti-graft war, adding that for the agenda to succeed, agencies like the OAuGF needed to be strengthened through capacity building, to equip them with the necessary tools to check corrupt tendencies.

“This is part of the UK’s collaboration with Nigeria on the anti-corruption agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari=led government.
We are building on some of the collaboration reached in May this year where President Buhari and our former Prime Minister David Cameron set out to commission for collaboration on the anti-corruption agenda.

“This programme is geared towards strengthening the capability of the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation; it’s a long-term effort for us to try to partner with them to bring back capability,” he said..

On the duration of the partnership, he said: “This is our third mission that we have so far, and we have provision for more next year but we would continue to provide this nation with support so far there is appetite and willingness to reforms; God willing, it will be a long-term partnership.”