The Senate at its plenary session of Thursday, 1 March 2018, passed the Federal Audit Service Commission Bill, 2018. Among others, the Bill seeks to establish the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation; provide additional Powers and functions for the Office; establish the Federal Audit Service Commission; repeal the Audit Act 1956, Public Accounts Committee Act, 2004 and enact a Federal Audit Service Commission.
Presenting the report, Chairman of the Committee on Public Accounts, Sen. Matthew Urhoghide (PDP: Edo) informed lawmakers that the Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives held a retreat organized by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) on 26 January 2018 to consider and deliberate on various provisions of the Bill before resolving to implement the following strategies:
- Adoption of the Public Hearing proceedings conducted by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts;
- Request to the Auditor General of the Federation to submit his inputs on the Bill;
- Liaise with the United Kingdom National Audit Office to obtain best practices.
Sen. Urhoghide mentioned that the Bill if passed would:
- Reposition the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation and enhance the capacity of the Office to perform its constitutional role of ensuring transparency, accountability and probity in the management of Public funds; and
- Establish an Audit Act in accordance with International best practice of other climes.
According to Sen. Urhoghide, of a total of 53 Clauses, the Senate retained 28 Clauses as passed by the House of Representatives and amended 25 clauses. Most of the amendments bordered on typo-graphical, grammatical and juxtaposition errors.
The Federal Audit Service Commission Bill (HB 107) was passed by the House of Representatives on 19 April 2016 and transmitted to the Senate for concurrence. The Bill was further referred to the Committee on Public Accounts for further legislative scrutiny on 13 July 2017 to make its findings that would aid the Senate arrive at a decision on the passage of the Bill.
