Following the submission of the forensic audit account of NNPC with respect to the $20 billion allegation made by the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, there have been persistent calls by concerned stakeholders and Nigerians in general for the release of the full report.
BudgIT, the foremost civic tech organization dedicated to ensuring fiscal transparency, accountability and education of the mass citizenry, in collaboration with Private Public Development Centre, on 25th February 2015 lent its voice to this call, by submitting an FOI request to the office of the Auditor – General (AG) of the Federation.
Signed by Stanley Achonu, Operations Lead at BudgIT, the request brings to the AG’s notice a statement credited to the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Maduekwe in media reports of February 24, 2015 where she expressly stated that neither President Goodluck Jonathan nor herself would oppose the public release of the full report. According to the reports, the minister is quoted to have said she cannot release the report herself because the decision on whether to do so lies with the Auditor-General of the Federation.
BudgIT’s FOI request is therefore a push for Nigerians to be privy to the entire contents of the report and is hopeful that the Federal Government in keeping with its promise of ensuring accountability in governance and in accordance of the statutes of the FOI Act will publish the report.
The two organisations, in another request, asked the Auditor General of the Federation to make the 2009-2012 audit reports of the Federal Government accounts available to them.
Says Mr Achonu, “Audit reports complete the transparency and accountability cycle that includes public disclosure of revenue, publication of government budget [including citizens budget] and publicly available audit report of government process, revenue and expenditure.”
“At the heart of the two requests we sent to the Auditor-General of the Federation is the twin issue of government revenue and expenditure. While PWC’s focused on government revenue and remittance by NNPC, the other request will compel the Auditor General to disclose the full audited FG accounts from 2009 to 2012.” Achonu concluded.
According to the FOI Act, requests must receive a mandatory reply within seven days of acknowledgement of receipt and BudgIT is hopeful that the office of the Auditor-General will act promptly like true patriots and in obedience of the law.
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ABOUT BUDGIT
BudgIT as an idea was conceptualised and hacked at the Tech-In-Governance, a 48 hour gathering organised by Co-Creation Hub in February 2011. BudgIT as a tool aims to redefine participatory governance. Many Nigerians, with little or no knowledge of accounting and public finance management, are lost when they see (if they ever get the chance to) the budgets of the different arms of government. Most media releases of the Nigerian budget only have the macro figures as the finer details that trickle down to the citizens such as neighbourhood projects are not fully explained. The maze of millions and billions in the “thick” budget documents tend to confuse and it is difficult to put clear context on how public funds are actually spent.
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