Auditor-General: Rep calls for internal succession

By Christiana Ekpa

As the Auditor-General for the Federation, Mr. Anthony Ayine is set to retire in October this year, a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Musa Dachung Bagos (PDP, Plateau) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint a successor from the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (OAuGF).
Bagos, who represents Jos south/Jos east federal constituency of Plateau state in a statement im Abuja appealed to the president to make use of professionals who have advanced through the ranks in the civil service and avoid appointing people from outside.
Bagos decried the practice whereby duly qualified professionals in the Office of the Auditor General are often sidelined and people brought from outside to become the Auditor-General for the Federation.
The statement read: “Mr. President, I am are aware that the position of the Auditor-General for the Federation (AuGF) will become vacant by October 25, 2020. Therefore, in line with your avowed commitment to the fight against corruption and in the spirit of repositioning the public service, for greater efficiency and accountability, I wish to appeal to you to consider appointing his successor from among the directors in the OAuGF.
“Your Excellency, the current policy of abandoning highly qualified and competent personnel in the OAuGF and patronising professionals from outside the civil service affects the confidence and morale of officers.
“Auditing is a very serious and delicate business, which should be vested in the hands of dedicated, competent and committed officers who have grown through the system in the civil service”
He lamented that the practice, which threw up both the outgoing and his predecessor from outside as Auditors-General for the Federation amounted to abandoning competent and capable hands in the public service and preventing them from attaining career progression to the top.
He advised the Federal Civil Service Commission against leaving room for any vacuum and commence the process of selecting and recommending a competent and committed director to the president for appointment as the AuGF in line with the provisions of sections 85 and 86 of the 1999 constitution as amended.
“I am 1are hereby reminding the Federal Civil Service Commission and Head of Service of the Federation to put the necessary machinery in place and recommend a qualified, competent and dedicated director in the Office of the Auditor-General as the next substantive Auditor-General for the Federation”, the group stated.
The current AuGF, Mr. Anthony Ayine is due to retire on October 25, 2020, after attaining the compulsory retirement age of 60. Ayine, who was appointed as AuGF by President Buhari on 12 January, 2017, was born on October 25, 1960.