Civic organisation, Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI), has raised concerns over the state of transparency in the public finance management of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) while flagging missing audit reports for four consecutive fiscal years.
The civic organisation disclosed that it found that there were no audit reports for the FCTA on its official portal after conducting a thorough search. The organisation said it also wrote Auditor-General for the Federation (OAuGF) an official Freedom of Information request was submitted on February 11, 2025, requesting access to the reports, by the provisions of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2011, which was ignored.
This is in the wake of recent developments in which Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, defended spending ₦39 billion of public funds on the renovation of the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja – a project that has attracted wide criticism due to its cost and lack of contracting information.
Audit reports are instruments for holding public institutions accountable and ensuring that public resources are used efficiently, effectively, andbyh financial regulations. Section 301(c) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) empowers the Auditor-General for the Federation to audit the accounts of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).
“We had since February 2025 – four months ago written to the Auditor-General for the Federation whose responsibility it is to audit accounts of the FCT and despite the clear legal provisions of the FOI Act and Nigeria’s commitment to openness and transparency, the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation has not responded to the request or provide access to the requested audit reports”, Olusegun Elemo, executive director PLSI siad while briefing journalists in Abuja.
“This raises serious concerns about the culture of opacity around public finance management, particularly at a time when public trust in government institutions is at an all-time low”, he further said.
The organisation also called on the National Assembly to accelerate the passage of the federal audit bill. Elemo, regretted that the bill, which is meant to reform how the government accounts for public revenue and expenditure, has been abandoned at the National Assembly.
He opined that if the National Assembly could give speedy consideration to the tax reform bills, it could do same for the audit bill, noting that it is of equal importance.
“Previous governments refused to sign the Bill into law, and the current Senate has also failed to give concurrence to it despite passage by the House of Representatives since October 2023. It is interesting to know that the same National Assembly has hurriedly concluded legislative activities on the tax reform bills and transmitted them to the President for assent.
“Conversely, it is frustrating that public officials can be spending so much money and looking to tax the people even more with no responsibility to account for the money. Using the obsolete Audit Ordinance Act of 1956 to account for public funds in 2025 is dangerous to our democracy, and it is unacceptable,” Elemo stressed.
He reiterated that the audit functions are not an afterthought, and audit reports are not confidential memos for public officials only, but are public interest documents – essential for evaluating how well the promises embedded in budgets have translated into actual delivery and impact.
“We therefore demand the release of the FCT audit reports in line with the provisions of the FOI Act and passage of the Federal Audit Service Bill currently at the National Assembly”, he said.
PLSI also urged citizens, civil society organisations, the media, and development partners to join the call for greater transparency in the audit process at national and subnational levels.
