Nigeria’s Audit System: Why Tinubu Must Urgently Assent to Federal Audit Service Bill - CSJ

Nigeria’s Audit System: Why Tinubu Must Urgently Assent to  Federal Audit Service Bill - CSJ

By Emmanuel Iyoho

Recently, civil society leaders, lawyers, and budget experts gathered in a packed Abuja conference room. On the table was an 83-page document that, to most Nigerians, sounds technical and boring. But to the people who manage public money, it is a blueprint for plugging one of the biggest leaks in the country’s finances.

The document is the _Audit Opportunities Assessment Study_, produced by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), The Statecraft Report, and Princewill Eziukwu. Its message is blunt: Nigeria is losing billions yearly not because we lack an Auditor-General, but because the office is still bound by a 1956 colonial law with no real enforcement teeth.

That, the group says, is why President Bola Tinubu must urgently assent to the _Federal Audit Service Bill, 2025_.

A 69-Year-Old Law for a ₦68 Trillion Budget

Nigeria’s current audit law is the _Audit Ordinance of 1956_. It was written when federal expenditure was less than £100 million. Today, Nigeria spends over ₦68 trillion annually.

The law was never reproduced in the 1990 or 2004 Laws of the Federation. It technically ceased to exist under the Revised Edition Decree of 1990. Yet successive Auditor-Generals have continued to reference it because nothing has replaced it.

“The Constitution did not go into the definition of processes, procedures, power, coverage, ambit and other details of the audit function,” explained *Eze Onyekpere*, Lead Director of CSJ and facilitator of the study.

The result is a system where the Auditor-General can expose fraud, but cannot compel anyone to fix it. Reports go to the National Assembly, hearings are held, and then both the reports and recommendations gather dust.

CSJ estimates that *over ₦500 billion* is stuck in abandoned federal audit reports due to the lack of laws to compel MDAs to respond to queries. “That amount is more than the entire budget of the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing,” Onyekpere said at a stakeholders’ dialogue in Abuja.

What the New Bill Changes

The _Federal Audit Service Bill, 2025_ was passed by the House of Representatives in 2023 and concurred to by the Senate on December 17, 2025. It now awaits presidential assent.

Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, who presented the bill, said it would replace the colonial framework with a modern regime aligned to international best practices.

*Key provisions include:*

1. *Statutory independence for the Auditor-General* – The bill establishes the Federal Audit Service and Federal Audit Board, giving the office autonomy and enforcement powers.

2. *Direct appropriation* – The Auditor-General’s office would receive funding directly, reducing executive interference.

3. *Sanctions and enforcement* – Accounting officers who deny auditors access risk up to 5 years jail or a ₦20 million fine.

4. *Mandatory corrective action* – Proposed amendments to Sections 85-87 of the Constitution would compel executive and legislative responses within fixed timelines.

5. *Link to budget releases* – The Budget Office would be mandated to withhold funds from non-compliant MDAs, embedding audit discipline into fiscal policy.

6. *Public audit dashboard* – Institutionalizing a digital platform for citizens to track audit findings and compliance in real time.

“This study treats the systemic weaknesses and institutional inertia in the audit process as opportunities for transformation,” Onyekpere said. The goal is to reposition audit as an instrument of fiscal discipline, transparency, and sustainable governance.

Why It Matters Now

Nigeria faces high debt, inflation, and poverty. Yet, as Onyekpere noted, “Nigeria is borrowing more because there are no adequate sanctions for misappropriations revealed in audit reports.”

The Open Government Partnership ranks audit reform as having “substantial potential for results” in Nigeria’s fiscal governance. BudgIT has repeatedly flagged weak compliance with audit recommendations as a driver of financial waste and mismanagement.

Other African countries have moved ahead. Gambia, Sierra Leone, and South Africa have granted independence and enforcement powers to their Auditor-General offices. Ghana, Kenya, and the United Kingdom rank higher on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index partly because their supreme audit institutions are stronger.

Civil society groups say the delay sends a bad signal. “The Senate frequently speaks about improving governance and fighting corruption. The refusal to advance the Audit Service Bill sends a troubling signal about tolerance for inefficiency,” said the AdvoKC Foundation.

The Human Cost of a Weak Audit  System  Weak audit enforcement doesn’t just show up in spreadsheets.  It shows up in abandoned hospitals, uncompleted roads, and unpaid contractors. When MDAs ignore audit queries, the money meant for public services disappears into the system.

*Dr. Aisha Bello*, a public finance specialist at the University of Abuja, says the legal gap undermines accountability. “Without a current audit law, the Auditor-General’s office operates with limited legal backing, making it harder to enforce recommendations and hold MDAs accountable,” she told _The Pioneer_.

*Chidi Okoro*, a Lagos-based policy analyst, puts it bluntly: “Audit reports often gather dust because there are no consequences for non-compliance. This bill, if signed, gives the system teeth.”

The problem isn’t new. A similar bill passed under President Obasanjo in 2007 but was never signed. *Edetaen Ojo*, Executive Director of Media Rights Advocacy, recalled: “If you look at audit reports in previous years, you will see a whole lot of money running into billions of Naira, which have not been properly brought into accounts.”

Expert Views: From Report Writing to Accountability

*Dr. Olusegun Elemo*, Executive Director of Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative, argues that assent would allow the Auditor-General to conduct performance audits, improving the quality of public services.

Academic research backs this up. Studies show that statutory audit and auditor independence significantly influence public financial performance in Nigeria. But without enforcement, the “audit expectation gap” persists – the public expects accountability, but the law gives auditors no power to deliver it.

The bill also aligns Nigeria with the _Lima Declaration of Guidelines on Auditing Precepts_ adopted by INTOSAI, the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions.

“Although the bill is not perfect, it positions Nigeria’s audit system to meet international standards,” Onyekpere said. He urged the President to direct the Attorney-General to publish a plain-language summary of the bill and communicate the assent to the IMF, World Bank, and AFROSAI-E as part of the Renewed Hope Agenda’s governance reforms.

The Road Ahead

For Onyekpere, the study is not just about identifying problems. It lays out pathways for strengthening audit institutions and driving reforms at both federal and subnational levels. The objectives include providing empirical evidence for reform, framing challenges as opportunities, and giving evidence-based recommendations for legislative and policy action.

“We are calling for presidential assent to the Federal Audit Service Bill,” CSJ stated in a May 2026 press release. “It is a preventive mechanism against corruption and a tool for introspection and reform.”

The coalition behind the push includes CSJ, ActionAid Nigeria, Accountability Lab, Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, The Statecraft Report, and BudgIT. Attendees at the Abuja briefing included John Onyeukwu of The Statecraft Report and Oyn Bamigbaye of ActionAid Nigeria.

The Bottom Line

As Nigeria debates debt sustainability and anti-corruption, the bill represents a test of political will. A 69-year-old law cannot govern a 21st-century economy.

Whether the Tinubu administration breaks the cycle of report writing without consequences may define the next phase of public finance reform.

For now, over ₦500 billion remains in limbo, and Nigerians are still waiting for an audit system that does more than write reports. It needs the power to make them count.