Senate Writes Tinubu, Demands Immediate Appointment of AuGF

*Contractors kick against Level 10 officer’s emergence as DG, BPP

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The senate has advised President Bola Tinubu to appoint an Auditor General for the Federation (AuGF) in compliance with Section 86 of the 1999 Constitution.

The red chamber noted that the absence of an AuGF in the last 10 months had left the government susceptible to potential mismanagement, lack of accoforuntability and transparency.

The communication was signed by Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Senator Aliyu Wadada.
The upper chamber expressed concern that the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (OAuGF), which is the apex audit institution of the country, had been without a substantive auditor-general for the last 10 months.

Part of the letter read, “The absence of a substantive AuGF will affect strict adherence to Accounting Standards and the Annual Reports of the Auditor-General on the accounts of the Federation of Nigeria Agencies and Ministries, Agencies, Departments (MDAs) cannot be efficiently transmitted.

“This will impede necessary checks and balances, which are integral to the functions of the National Assemblies Committees responsible for Public Accounts.
“Therefore, it is very imperative for President Tinubu to heed our advice in the interest of the country.
“The absence of the auditor-general could affect the efforts of our government in the fight against corruption and enhancing transparency and accountability in governance.”

The letter emphasised that appointing a substantive auditor-general would strengthen the federal government’s commitment to fiscal responsibilities and safeguard public trust.
It pointed out that the audit reports of 2020, 2021 and 2022 were yet to be transmitted in accordance with Section 85 (2) of the 1999 Constitution as a result of the non-appointment of an auditor general.

In a related development, the Contractors Association of Nigeria (CAN) appealed to Tinubu to stop the alleged plan to appoint an unqualified federal civil servant as Director General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP). Chairman of CAN, Yusuf Abubakar, who stated this in a statement in Abuja, yesterday, alleged that the name of a civil servant on Grade Level 10 had been forwarded to the Office of the Chief of Staff for appointment as DG, BPP.

The contractors noted that the BPP remained key to the survival of governance, as every ministry and agency of government had to pass through it for due process of their procurements and contracts.

The statement said, “The moment the BPP is subdued, all other due processes in the country is gone.
“For it not to be subdued, we are hereby calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to allow the plot to bypass the laid down civil service process of succession in the public sector, as being planned in cohort with a few top government officials in the Presidential Villa, to succeed.

“The BPP has always being headed by an engineer, who is vast in contract and procurement rudiments. Little surprise that a clique, who claimed to have the backing of the presidency, is projecting someone who is not an engineer but a graduate of Business Administration to head BPP as Director General.
“Not only that, we had it on authority that someone being projected to the office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, is a Grade Level 10 officer.

“We also learnt that he may be announced this week as the Director General. This is an absurdity in the civil service in Nigeria.
“The person being projected was demoted from Grade Level 12 to 10 after he was found guilty of gross misconduct.
“He was transferred by the former DG, Engr. Eze, to Owerri after being demoted to Grade Level 10. But now he has found his way back to the head office in Abuja.

“He is being packaged and being sold to some influential people in the Presidential Villa, particularly, office of the Chief of Staff to the President, as the next Director General of BPP.

“Records of his misconduct and demotion are in his official file.”
The contractors also stated, “We wonder how a Grade Level 10 officer will suddenly be elevated to such position, particularly, in the organisation, with about eight qualified directors, who are not only engineers but have been directors for four years. There are also, deputy directors and assistant directors.

“This person has not even risen to the position of a Chief in the civil service, but had told those packaging him that he is currently a Deputy Director.
“We also learnt that he is flaunting his acclaimed friendship with a son of one of the APC top-notch in the Villa.

“How could such a person be brought to head a monitoring agency that is very key to the development of Nigeria as the DG?
“This is an anathema to civil service rule not only in Nigeria but all over the world.
“If such a person becomes DG, God forbid, he will be coming with vendetta and he will destroy that place because every senior officer from Level 12 and above will resign. How will this help such an agency?”

CAN added, “We know this is without the knowledge of Mr. President and that is why we are raising this alarm.
“If this should happen, it will be a disgrace to President Bola Tinubu and to Nigeria because procurement in government offices would henceforth, be done on ‘cash and carry’ basis.

“That means there will not be competitive tendering again. That means contractors will be getting ‘certificate of no objection’. That means a head of an agency of government can sit down in his office and write letters of contract awards to his family members.
“That means there will no more be checks and balances, which is very key as it had reduced the frequency of going to EFCC and ICPC.”