The office of the Auditor-General for the Federation has appealed to the National Assembly to increase its annual budgetary allocation towards enabling it to thoroughly monitor constitutional obligations required from various government ministries, departments and agencies.
The Auditor-General for the Federation, Shaakaa Chira, made the appeal while presenting an overview of the agency’s 2025 budget performance.
He explained that apart from inadequate budgetary allocation, poor release of allocated funds has adversely affected the operations of the office, leading to gaps in accomplishing its statutory mandate and plans for the year.
Chira revealed that the office was able to audit only five of Nigeria foreign missions in 2025 due to inadequate funds while owing rents in some locations amidst shortage of personnel.
Chairman of the Committee, Bamidele Salam and members while reviewing the budget performance of the office, observed that while 653 million naira was appropriated for the foreign missions audit, only 371 million naira was expended leaving an outstanding balance of 282 million naira, representing 56 percent of the total amount released.
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It was also observed that only four per cent of the capital allocation to the Office was released in 2025, a development that significantly impaired the capacity of the agency to deliver on its mandate
On the 2026 proposal, lawmakers observed that the 15.9 billion naira allocation to the office represents meagre 0.027 per cent of the 58.4 trillion naira Federal Government budget for the year, describing the allocation as grossly disproportionate to an agency mandated to audit over 1,000 Ministries, Departments and Agencies, as well as government-funded institutions.
The committee chairman noted that it is unrealistic to expect the Auditor-General’s Office to effectively scrutinize a proposed expenditure of 58.4 trillion naira with such minimal funding, disclosing that due to budgetary constraints in previous years, the Office was only able to audit five foreign missions out of about 100 Nigerian missions abroad.
Salam maintained that weakening oversight institutions through inadequate funding undermines transparency and accountability in public financial management, calling on the executive to prioritize adequate appropriation and full release of funds towards preventing corruption, waste, and mismanagement of public resources.
(Editor: Ebuwa Omo-Osagie0
