Anti-corruption: Auditor General’s Office, Fraud Investigators sign partnership agreement

As part of moves to nip in the bud, the level of corruption in the country, Office of the Auditor General of the Federation and Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Investigators of Nigeria (CIFCFIN) have   signed a partnership agreement. According to them, the step is designed  to drastically reduce what they described as corrupt practices, fraud and financial malfeasance in the public sector in Nigeria. Speaking  during the signing ceremony which took place at Audit House, Abuja, Acting Auditor General of the Federation, Dr. Andrew Onwudili said the partnership “is a great opportunity to further define new frontiers of what our two institutions hold dear and beneficial to the citizens of this great country as we entrench probity and accountability in the public sector and the country at large.

 “None of us can do the job alone; our joint efforts will make us to do the job better.” He stated that the Office of the Auditor General in partnership with CIFCFIN, will be better equipped to fight corruption in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as both are bringing different skill sets to the table on ways and means of tackling the menace. In his remarks, CIFCFIN President, Dr. Iliyasu Gashinbaki said that “the partnership will be very, very transformative when it comes to audit as we know it, and in particular, the infusion of forensics and fraud investigation into the practice of audit. I think that it will go a long way in reducing, if not eliminating the massive corruption challenges that we have when it comes to Financial Statements of governments as we have seen over the years.”

The  CIFCFIN boss who noted that  the partnership was designed to build capacity in the area of forensics and fraud investigation, particularly for the directorate cadre across the three-tiers of government and arms of government, said, “We feel that capacity building will never be enough and as such, it is important that such partnership for capacity building is entrenched.” Since CIFCFIN became chartered with the President signing the Bill establishing it into Law on December 23, 2022, the Institute has been forming strategic alliances with anti-corruption agencies, para-military and other agencies to enhance their capacity in Forensics and Fraud Investigation in their day-to-day operations. These include Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) among others.