AdvoKC Foundation has renewed its call on President Bola Tinubu to assent to the Federal Audit Service Bill, warning that continued delay is undermining efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s public financial oversight….
AdvoKC Foundation has renewed its call on President Bola Tinubu to assent to the Federal Audit Service Bill, warning that continued delay is undermining efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s public financial oversight.
The Foundation said its renewed appeal followed a second independent international assessment highlighting weaknesses in Nigeria’s fiscal transparency and audit independence.
AdvoKC said the United States Department of State’s 2026 fiscal transparency assessment, covering the 2025 calendar year, found that Nigeria failed to meet the minimum fiscal transparency standard for the second consecutive year.
The assessment reviewed 139 governments and the Palestinian Authority, with 73 meeting the required standard, according to the Foundation.
AdvoKC said the US findings reinforce concerns previously highlighted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over Nigeria’s public financial management and the need for stronger independent oversight.
The Foundation said Nigeria’s Auditor-General currently lacks control over key aspects of the office’s operations, including its budget allocation, release of funds and personnel management.
Under the existing arrangement, the Budget Office of the Federation determines the audit office’s budget allocation, while the Ministry of Finance controls the release of funds. Recruitment, promotion and discipline of its personnel are handled by the Federal Civil Service Commission.
AdvoKC said the Federal Audit Service Bill seeks to address these limitations by granting the audit institution greater financial and administrative independence.
The Foundation also pointed to disclosures by lawmakers in February that only four per cent of the Auditor-General’s approved 2025 capital allocation had been released.
According to AdvoKC, the funding shortfall meant the Auditor-General’s office could audit only five of Nigeria’s roughly 100 foreign missions during the cycle.
It said the situation illustrates the practical consequences of an audit institution depending on other government agencies for access to funds needed to carry out its constitutional responsibilities.
AdvoKC Project Director, Habib Sheidu, said the latest findings had strengthened the case the Foundation first presented to the Presidency in July.
“When we wrote to the Presidency in July, we made the case on the numbers alone,” Sheidu said.
“Two months on, the numbers have been joined by a second international verdict, by the Auditor-General’s own account of what it cannot do without funding it doesn’t control, and by a former Vice President turning this into a campaign issue.”
AdvoKC said the findings of the US assessment and other international reviews were reached independently and through different methodologies, but point to concerns over the strength of Nigeria’s public financial management and independent oversight mechanisms.
The Foundation urged President Tinubu to assent to the Federal Audit Service Bill without further delay.
It also called for the Federal Audit Board to be constituted within 90 days of assent, a public timeline for appointing the Director-General of the Federal Audit Service, and publication of a plain-language summary of the law to enable citizens to monitor its implementation.
AdvoKC said it would continue tracking the Bill and the Presidency’s action on it, arguing that passage by both chambers of the National Assembly should be followed by implementation rather than prolonged administrative delay.
