By Chris Ochayi
ABUJA – The Office of the Auditor General for the Federation, AGF, said it has concluded arrangements to collaborate with the National Assembly with a view to providing legal framework for the implementation of performance audit among ministries, department and agencies in order to curb corruption in the public institutions.

Tue Auditor General for the Federation, Samuel Ukura, said this at the closing ceremony organised for performance auditors drawn from four African countries under the umbrella of the African Organisation for Supreme Audit Institution-English Speaking[AFROSAI-E].

He said that the implementation of performance audit would reduce waste, ensure economic, efficient and effective use of scarce government resources as well as reduce corruption in the public service.

According to him “Performance audit, is an independent and systematic examination of the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which resources available are deployed to bring about improvements and good governance.

The AGF revealed that his office would soon send the reports of the performance audit to the National Assembly for consideration and approval, adding that the recommendations and findings of the audit would be of immense benefits for the nation.

He explained further based on the regional and international cooperation of Supreme Audit Institutions[SAIs], that Nigeria had participated in the completion of Environmental Audit on the drying up of the Lake Chad with Lake Chad Basin Commission member countries of Cameroun, Chad and Niger.

He also said Cooperative Environmental Audit on implementation of local content policy in oil and gas industry in Nigeria is being carried out, adding that arrangements for the official presentation of both reports to the National Assembly have been finalised.

Ukura said a three day retreat would be organised soon for the members of the National Assembly in order to keep them abreast of performance audit, which he described as the audit of impacts of governance on the well-being of the citizens.

Performance audit, he said is a new concept in Nigeria, requires a lot of public awareness on how its implementation would improve accountability, transparency and good governance in the country.

In her remarks the Deputy Director ,Performance Audit in the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation , Oluremi Odusanya, said that performance audit was designed to bring out underlying issues that tend to make systems work.

Odusanya explained that performance audit seeks to find out if money spent on a project, is economical, efficient and cost effective.

Government she said should embrace the implementation of performance audit to ensure overall well-being of Nigerians.