The wrong piece on Auditor-General’s Office

I was shocked to the marrows when I read a piece on the situation in the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (OAuGF), signed by one Ismail Timothy in of Daily Trust of Wednesday, May 18, 2016. The piece is saying that the hierarchy in the office should not be considered in the appointment […]

I was shocked to the marrows when I read a piece on the situation in the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (OAuGF), signed by one Ismail Timothy in of Daily Trust of Wednesday, May 18, 2016. The piece is saying that the hierarchy in the office should not be considered in the appointment of the next Auditor-General of the Federation on the allegation of inherent corruption and ineffectiveness in the civil service.
Reading through the entire article, it was so easy to discern that the piece was a mere concoction to distort the reality of the situation on ground at the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (OAuGF).
It is an open secret that the appointment of the incumbent Auditor-General, Mr. Samuel T. Ukura, greatly disconnected the system that was hitherto working perfectly well. So, the author was either mischievous or simply being economical with the truth when he wrote that the tenure of the incumbent AuGF has been a blessing to the office, instead of emphasizing the fact that it distorted the career prospect of those who rose through the ranks in the civil service.
On the past process of leadership succession predicated on the most senior director taking over from the retiring AuGF, which the writer lampooned, I wish to enlighten him that as a career and not political office, appointment to the office of the OAuGF is usually done by the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) based on seniority, through the federal character principle.
Timothy went to the extent of saying that‘’the current directors in the OAuGF do not possess the basic qualification for the post of the AuGF?’’ Such unverifiable blanket categorization of the directors as incompetent to take over from the outgoing AuGF is outrightly preposterous. If some of these directors, who have spent over 25 years in service in the system with all their professional qualifications are not qualified to take over as AuGF, then who is qualified?
The scheme of service approved recently by the FCSC for both the office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF)and the OAuGF – which was not in force when most of the directors were appointed- may be adequate for the former, but not for the latter, because of the nature of the duties of the OAuGF. Apart from financial audit, which is basically accounting, the performance audit cuts across all disciplines such as engineering, law, medicine, sociology etc. Before Ukura, his predecessor was a geologist-cum-chartered accountant.
Even abroad, people occupying similar positions are not all accountants. Apart from the membership of relevant accounting bodies, some of them are lawyers, scientists etc.
The writer also missed the point irredeemably in his comparison of the OAGF with that of AuGF. While the post of Auditor-General is statutory in nature like the post of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the post of the Accountant General is not statutory and can be filled by anybody chosen by the President.
In other climes of the world where the system works perfectly with the precision of the Swiss clock, appointment of Auditor-Generals is usually made from the list of candidates from the Audit office. So, it beggars belief why anyone should be canvassing for the upturning of that wonderful order of succession.
Rogers Edor Ochela, a former Newspaper Editor is based in Abuja