By Dipo Olowookere
The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Ahmed Idris, has promised to reform the Internal Audit process in the MDAs, by fully implementing the Internal Audit modernization process which was muted in 2010, saying it would be one of his legacies as AGF.
Mr Idris, while addressing the meeting of the Directors of Internal Auditors, Heads of Internal Audit Units in the MDA’s at the Treasury House recently, underscored the importance of the Internal Audit function in ensuring transparent and accountable management of public finance in the MDA’s, regretting that over the years, it has been relegated to the background.
He tasked the Internal Auditors to improve on the quality of their reports by making sure they capture and report cases of financial malfeasance in the various MDAs, saying henceforth, he will hold them accountable for any case of fraud unreported by them at the various MDAs.
Going down memory lane, the AGF recalled how out of all the Public Finance Reforms introduced in Nigeria in 2010, which included, IPPIS, E-payment, GIFMIS, TSA etc, it was only the Internal Audit modernization process that did not see the light of the day, attributing it to lack of will on the part of the implementers.
According to him, government has now begun a critical appraisal of the Internal Audit function with a view to modernizing the process to make it more effective and efficient in line with current trend in auditing.
In view of this, the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has given approval to the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to commence the implementation Internal Audit modernization process and this will begin with a train -the- trainers workshops on the software for the implementation.
The AGF therefore called on the Internal Auditors to give this process their maximum support by ensuring that they participate fully and come up with ideas that will ensure speedy and seamless implementation.
In his own remarks, Director Audit Monitoring Department, Mr Hakeem Dosumu, praised the AGF for his determination and commitment to improving transparency in public finance management in Nigeria which has led to the approval of the Internal Audit modernization by the Minister of Finance.
Mr Dosumu also lauded the Finance Minister for her courage and political will to see the reform comes to light.
He challenged Internal Auditors to brace up to the challenge urging them to prove that they can hold their own at this point in the national history.
Adedapo Adesanya