APPOINTMENT, POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF THE AUDITORGENERAL

Appointment of Auditor-General
The Auditor-General for the Federation is appointed by the President on the recommendation of the
Federal Civil Service Commission, subject to confirmation by the Senate. He is appointed in accordance
with the provision of Sec. 86 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. At the level of
a State, a similar dispensation is put in place under the 1999 Constitution, for the Governor to appoint
the Auditor-General of the State on the recommendation of the State Civil Commission, subject,
however, to the confirmation of the relevant House of Assembly. The appointment of the Auditor-
General for Local Government of a State undergoes the same process outlined above.
Acting Capacity
No person acts in the office of the Auditor-General for a period exceeding six months, except with the
sanction of a resolution duly passed by the senate.
Tenure of office of Auditor-General
i. a person holding the office of the Auditor-General for the Federation can be removed from office
by the President acting on an advice supported by two thirds majority of the Senate, praying that
he be so removed for inability to discharge the functions of his office. Auditor-General shall be
so removed only on account of:
a. Infirmity of mind, body or any other cause or
b. Misconduct
ii. The Auditor-General cannot be removed from office before such retiring age as may be
prescribed by law, save in accordance with the provisions of aforementioned paragraph.
Powers and Functions of Auditor-General
According to the Financial Regulations No 108 (December 2009), the Officer responsible under the
Constitution of the Federation for the audit and report on the public accounts of the Federation,
including all persons and bodies established by law entrusted with the collection, receipt, custody, issue,
sale, transfer or delivery of any stamps, securities, stores or other property of Government of the
Federation and for the certification of the Annual Accounts of that Government is the Auditor-General
for the Federation. The Auditor-General shall examine and ascertain in such manner as he may think
from the accounts relating to public funds and property and shall ascertain whether in his opinion:
a. The accounts have been properly kept
b. All public monies have been fully accounted for, and the rules and procedures applied are
sufficient to secure effective checks on the assessment, collection and proper allocation of
revenue
c. Monies have been expended for the purposes for which they were appropriated and the
expenditure have been made as authorised and

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 d. Essential records are maintained and the rules and procedures applied are sufficient to safeguard
and control public property and funds.
The Auditor-General shall carry out the following statutory functions:
a. Financial Audit in accordance with extant laws in order to determine whether government
accounts have been satisfactorily and faithfully kept
b. Appropriation Audit - to ensure that funds are expended as appropriated by the National
Assembly.
c. Financial Control Audit - to ensure that laid down procedures are being observed in tendering,
contracts and storekeeping with a view to preventing waste, pilferage and extravagance
d. Value-for-Money (Performance) Audit - to ascertain the level of economy, efficiency and
effectiveness derived from government projects and programmes.
The scope of work of the Auditor-General include:
a. audit of the books, accounts and records of federal ministries, extra-ministerial offices and other
arms of government;
b. vetting, commenting and certifying audited accounts of all Parastatals and government statutory
corporations’ in accordance with the Constitution of the Federation;
c. audit of the accounts of federal government establishments located in all states of the federation
including all Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja;
d. audit of the Accountant-General’s Annual Financial Statements;
e. auditing and certifying the Federation Account;
f. deliberation, verification and reporting on reported cases of loss of funds, stores, plants and
equipment as stipulated in Chapter 25 of the Financial Regulations;
g. pre and post auditing of the payment of pensions and gratuities of the retired military and civilian
personnel;
h. Periodic checks of all Government Statutory Corporations, commissions, Authorities, Agencies,
including all persons and bodies established by an Act of the National Assembly; and
i. revenue audit of all government institutions.
Free Access to Books and Accounts
By virtue of the responsibilities and functions of the Auditor-General for the Federation, the officer
and/or his/her representatives are permitted free access, at all reasonable times, to all files, safes,
documents, books and other records relating to the accounts of all Federal Ministries/Extra-Ministerial
Departments or units. They are also entitled to require and receive from members of the public services
such information, reports and explanations as they may deem necessary for the proper performance of
their functions.
The Auditor-General is empowered to conduct periodic checks of all government statutory corporations,
commissions, authorities, agencies, including all persons and bodies established by an Act of the
National Assembly.

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The Auditor-General shall, within ninety days of receipt of the Accountants-General’s financial
statements, submit his reports to each House of the National Assembly and each House shall cause the
reports to be considered by a Committee of the House of the National Assembly responsible for public
accounts.
In the exercise of his functions under the Constitution, the Auditor-General is not subjected to the
direction or control of any other authority or person.
Audit of Public Accounts
a) The Auditor-General for the Federation shall be appointed in accordance with the provisions of
section 86 of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria
b) The Public accounts of the Federation and of all offices and courts of the Federation shall be audited
and reported on, by the Auditor-General who shall submit his reports to the National Assembly.
c) Nothing in section 85 (2) shall be constructed as authorizing the Auditor-General to audit the
account of or appoint auditors for government statutory corporations, commission, authorities,
agencies including all persons and bodies established by an Act of the National Assembly.
Nonetheless the Auditor-General shall:
i. Provide such bodies with:
 A list of auditors qualified to be appointed by them as external auditors and from which the
bodies shall appoint their external auditors
 Guidelines on the level of fees to be paid to external auditors and
ii. Comment on their annual accounts and auditor’s reports thereon.
d) The Auditor-General shall have power to conduct periodic checks of all government statutory
corporations, commission, authorities, agencies, including all persons and bodies established by an
Act of the National Assembly.
e) The Auditor-General shall, within ninety days of receipt of the AccountantGeneral’s financial
statements, submit his report under this section to each House of the National assembly and each
House shall cause the report to be considered by a Committee of the National assembly responsible
for public accounts.
f) In the exercise of his functions under the Constitution, the Auditor-General shall not be subject to
the direction or control of any other authority or person.

THE OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL

Functions of the Office of the Auditor General
a. Financial and Regularity Audit: A financial audit is undertaken to ensure that:
i. Systems of accounting and financial control are efficient and operating properly and
ii. Financial transactions have been correctly controlled, authorised and accounted for.

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b. A regularity audit: It is that which verifies that expenditure has been incurred on approved services
and in accordance with statutory and other regulations and authorities governing them (sometimes
called Compliance Audit).
c. Economy and efficiency audit: This is a measurement of how economic resources are efficiently
employed. It is also to highlight areas of wastes, extravagant or unrewarding expenditure. It looks
into failures to maximize receipts, financial arrangements that are detrimental to the treasury and
weaknesses leading to them.
d. Effectiveness audit: This is an examination to assess whether programmes or projects undertaken to
meet established policy goals or objectives have met their respective aims. It is also called
Programme Results Audit. It aims at focused on comprehensive audit in government.
e. Value-for-Money Audit This is variously called Performance Audit, or Economic and Efficiency
audit. The essence is to determine whether an entity is acquiring, managing or utilizing its resources
in the most economical and efficient manner. It traces the causes of any inefficiencies or
uneconomical practice. Value-for-money Audit is defined as an objective professional and
systematic assessment of:
i. The nature and function of an authority’s managerial systems and procedures
ii. The economy and efficiency with which its services are processed and
iii. The effectiveness of its performance in achieving objectives
Phases of value-for-money audit are:
 Proposal phase: aims at justifying the study of a particular area, authorise initial resources and
determine further considered initial analysis of financial statistics, audit costs and other performance
indicators.
 The Scooping phase: aims at gathering sufficient details. It embraces gathering working
information, studying related legislations and testing controls act. At this stage there will be
comprehensive management systems and objective review.
 Planning phase: Aims at planning to fully develop identified potentials. The planning and control
processes are properly analysed and methods of reviewing operating results are examined through
analysis of control and reporting systems.
 Implementation phase: Aims at reporting the audit results to those responsible for receiving or
acting on them.
 Evaluation phase: is to evaluate the audit result, methodology and performance of the audit staff.
The focus here will be assessment of efficiency and effectiveness review. Value-for-money audit
aims to identify ineffectiveness in the system and under-utilisation of resources.
Composition of Office of Auditor-General
The office of the Auditor-General comprises the following directorates:
a. Treasury Accounts, which handles the audit of accounts and financial statements
b. State Accounts, which audit the transactions of pay officers operating in various states
c. Public Enterprises, which oversees the audit of parastatals

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 d. Project Audit which investigates justifications to pay officers operating in various states
e. Pension which conducts pre-audit of gratuities and pensions
f. Losses and Investigations that handles all cases of loss of funds and
g. Annual report and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which handles all reports and links with PAC
deliberations.
Audit Queries and Alarms
Audit queries are observations or points raised by the audit in particular transactions seeking further
clarifications. Such queries raised by Internal Audit are pre-audit queries while those raised by the
Auditor-General are termed post-audit queries.
Queries serve as an important part of the mechanism of financial control as well as valuable means of
detecting and preventing errors, fraud etc.
The guidelines on Civil Service Reforms gave prominence to queries by specifying time limit for
replying audit queries and possible sanctions for failure to respond. Matters on which queries may be
raised can be classified as:
a) Irregularities resulting in losses to the government due to either fraudulent activity of the
functionaries or their negligence or incompetence.
b) Irregularities not directly or immediately resulting in losses to government but which infringe upon
budgetary and proper financial management and
c) Irregularities arising through poor or inefficient management and accounting, which may lead to
losses to the government.
ROLE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE (PAC) IN THE AUDIT PROCESS
i. Power to Conduct Investigation: In line with the provisions of the Constitution, each House of the
National Assembly shall have power by resolution published in its journal or in the Official Gazette
of the Government of the Federation to direct or causes to be directed an investigation into:
a. Any matter or thing with respect to which it has power to make laws and
b. The conduct of affairs of any person, authority, ministry or government department charged,
with the duty of or responsibility for:
 Executing or administering laws enacted by the National Assembly and
 Disbursing or administering moneys appropriated or to be appropriated by the National
Assembly.
The power conferred on the National Assembly under the provisions of this section is exercisable
only for the purpose of enabling it to:
 Make laws with respect to any matter within its legislative competence and correct any
defects in existing laws and

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  Expose corruption, inefficiency or wastes in the execution and administration of laws
within its legislative competence and in the disbursement or administration of funds
appropriated by it.
ii. Power as to Matters of Evidence: For the purpose of any investigation under section 88 of the 1999
Constitution and subject the provisions thereof, the Senate or House of Representatives or a
Committee appointed in accordance with section 62 of the 1999 Constitution shall have power to:
a. Produce all such evidence, written or oral, direct or circumstantial, as it may think necessary or
desirable, and examine all persons as witnesses whose evidence may be material or relevant to
the subject matter and
b. Require such evidence to be given on oath.
This Committee is invariably known as Public Accounts Committee. The purpose of the provision of
the constitution and establishment of the PAC is to expose corruption, inefficiency or waste in the
execution or disbursement of administration of funds appropriated by it.
The Public Accounts Committee is empowered to:
a. Examine such audited accounts of the federation and of all offices and courts of the Federation
and the Auditor-General report thereon as may be referred to it.
b. Examine:
 The accounts and reports of ministries and Departments of the Government of the Federation
 The Audited-Accounts of statutory corporations, boards and such other government bodies
and
 The causes which led to, or might have led to, any excess over approved appropriations.
In the performance of its functions, the PAC is further empowered to:
 Procure all such evidence, oral or written and examine such persons at it may deem necessary
or desirable and
 Require any person to produce any books, documents or records, as it may deem necessary
and desirable.
The composition of PAC is geared towards functioning like a court or enquiry empowered to look into
civil and criminal cases as regards allocation and disbursement and use of public funds by public
officers who have been entrusted with the responsibility of judiciously using the funds, carrying out
government programmes and recommending appropriate actions against officers found wanting in
carrying out their duties.
Basis of PAC Activities
The major basis of the PAC activities are the report of the Auditor-General. In these reports, statement
of how the accounts of the government departments, agencies and ministries are examined is stated and
queries raised and the response to these queries is also stated.

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 Consequently, all cases that are of prime importance or which the Committee feels should be property
examined are then picked out of the report. Other bases of PAC activities are the cases referred to the
Committee by the House in respect of issues examined by it during deliberation.

Problems of PAC
These include:
i. Political instability (either through violent change as in the military regimes or change of political
party) leading to continuous changes in the composition of the committee.
ii. Financial statements to be examined are often in arrears.
iii. Members are not knowledgeable in accounting and financial reporting.
iv. Lack of co-operation and information from the expected facilitators and
v. Resolutions are not always implemented amongst others.
INTERNAL AUDIT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR
The Institute of Internal Auditors defined internal auditing as “the independent appraisal activity within
an organisation for the review of the accounting, financial and other operations as a basis for protective
and constructive service to management”.
Objectives and Scope of Internal Audit in the Public Sector
The basic objectives of internal auditing are to assist the management in the effective discharge of its
responsibilities. The internal audit department provides this assistance by furnishing management with
analysis, appraisals, recommendations and comments regarding the activities reviewed. Internal auditors
can be concerned which any phase of the operations of the department/ministry. This may involve going
beyond accounting and financial records to obtain a full understanding of the operation under review,
internal auditing is a managerial control in itself and a duty performed by personnel employed for such
specific purpose. Internal audit exists in every Ministry/Department to carry out pre-audit is the audit
performed with the main objective of checking before payment for a transaction takes place in order to
ensure compliance with the rules governing each transaction.
In order to attain the overall objective, internal audit activities should include:
a) Reviewing and appraising the soundness, adequacy and application of accounting, financial and
other administration controls and promoting effective controls at reasonable cost.
b) Ascertaining the extent of compliance with established policies, plans and procedures
c) Ascertaining the extent of which the assets of the department/ministry are accounted for safeguarded
from losses of all kinds d) Ascertain the reliability of data developed or produced
d) Preserving the integrity of files on which those transactions and related data are stored and
e) Appraising the quality of performance in carrying out assigned responsibilities.
Operation of Internal Audit in the Public Sector

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Internal audit derives his powers from the power as delegated by the Auditor-General. Internal auditor
has full access to all the department/ministry`s record, properties and personnel that could be relevant to
the ministry`s records, properties and personnel that could be relevant to the subject under review. The
internal auditor falls within the following responsibilities executed by him in the establishment:
a) Operational Audit: This focuses on a particular activity within the establishment e.g. audit of
agricultural and Rural Development in a local government
b) Functional Audit: This focuses on a particular function e.g. audit of salary preparation etc.
c) Organisational Audit: This focuses on all activities with establishment globally viewed. It includes
(a) and (b) above.
d) Investigation: This focuses on ad-hoc assignments
e) Management Audit: This focuses on advising on policies introduced from time to time by the
establishment.
Responsibilities of the Internal Audit in the Public Sector
The internal audit is responsible for:
i. Reviewing, evaluating and reporting on the adequacy or otherwise of the controls installed and
operated and the extent to which they assure propriety, security, completeness and accuracy of
operations of the establishment.
ii. Performing the responsibility imposed by the Civil Service Reforms. The reforms state that he
shall carry out complete and continuous audit of accounts and records of revenue and
expenditure, plant stores and assume the duty of stock verifier where none exists in an
establishment and
iii. Confirmation of reliability and accuracy of extracted financial information to management.
iv. Matters influencing setting up of internal audit unit include:
a. The necessity of the internal audit unit in the circumstances of the government, bearing in
mind the provisions of Civil Service Reforms. Guidelines and relevant extant laws
b. Determining the size and structure of the unit
c. preparing of audit manual
d. Recruitment of appropriate staff for respective office and
e. Training and inducting the staff
The above stated procedures are of equal application to the audit of other tiers of government –
the state and local government
DUE PROCESS AND PUBLIC PROCUREMENT ACT
The Public Procurement Act was enacted by the National Assembly by Act No. 14 of 2007. The
National Council on Public Procurement which is referred to as ‟the Council” in the Act consist of:
a. the Minister of Finance as Chairman
b. the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the Federation

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c. the Secretary to the Government of the Federation
d. the Head of Service of the Federation
e. Economic Adviser to the President
f. Six part-time members to represent-
i. Nigerian Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management
ii. Nigerian Bar Association
iii. Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture
iv. Nigerian society of Engineers
v. Civil society
vi. The Media and
g. The Director-General of the Bureau who shall be the secretary of the Council.
The Council may co-opt any person to attend its meeting, but the person so co-opted shall not have a
casting vote or be counted towards quorum.
Functions of the National Council on Procurement
The Council shall
a. Consider, approve and amend the monetary and prior review thresholds for the application of the
provisions of this Act by procuring entities.
b. Consider and approve policies on public procurement
c. Approve the appointment of the Directors of the Bureau
d. Receive and consider for approval, the audited accounts of the Bureau of public procurement and
e. ‟approve changes in the procurement process to adapt to improvement in modern technology”
f. give such order directives and perform such other functions as/may be necessary to achieve the
objective of this Act.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT

This is established as agency to be known as the Bureau of Public Procurement as the Public
Procurement Act referred to as ‟the Bureau”.
The Bureau
a. shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal
b. may sue and be sued in its corporate name
c. may acquire, hold or dispose of any property, moveable or immovable for the purpose of carrying
out any of its function under this Act
The objectives of the Bureau are:
a. The harmonisation of existing government policies and practices on public procurement and
ensuring probity, accountability and transparency in the procurement process.

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b. The establishment of pricing standards and bench marks
c. Ensuring the application of fair, competitive, transparent, value-for money standard and practices for
the procurement and disposal of public assets and services and
d. The attainment of transparency, competitiveness and professionalism in the public sector
procurement system.
Functions of the Bureau
a. Formulate the general policies and guidelines relating to public sector procurement for the approval
of the Council.
b. Publicize and explain the provisions of this Act
c. Subject to thresholds as may be set by the Council, certify Federal Procurement prior to the award of
contract
d. Supervise the implementation of established procurement policies
e. Monitor the prices of tendered items and keep a national data base of standard prices
f. Publish the details of major contracts in the procurement journal
g. Publish paper and electronic editions of the procurement journal and maintain an archival system for
the procurement journal
h. Maintain a national database of the particulars and classification and categorization of federal
contractors and service providers.
i. Collate and maintain in an archival system, all federal procurement plans and information
j. Undertake procurement research and surveys
k. Organise training and development programme for procurement professionals
l. Periodically review the socio-economic effect of the policies on procurement and advise the council
accordingly.
m. Prepare and update standard biding and contract documents
n. Prevent fraudulent and unfair procurement and where necessary apply administrative sanctions
o. Review the procurement and award of contract procedures of every entity to which this Act applies.
p. Perform procurement audits and submit such reports to the National Assembly bi-annually.
q. Introduce, develop, update and maintain related database and technology
r. Establish a single internet portal that shall, subject to section 16(2) to this Act serve as a primary and
definitive source of all information on government procurement containing all public sector
procurement information at all times and
s. Co-ordinate relevant training programme to build institutional capacity.

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