By Abayomi Adeshida, Abuja
The Auditor-General for the Federation, Mr Adolphos Aghughu has named a Deputy Director of Audit, Mr Fawale Busayo Ayinla as the Supervisor for a five-man forensic audit team that will on Monday commence work on the level of compliance of the management of the newly established Nigerian Commission for Persons with Disabilities with the laws that guided the running of the Commission.
In a three-page letter of understanding signed by Aghughu who is the current Chairperson of the African Union Board of External Auditors, which was initially sent to a wrong address before it was corrected last week, the forensic audit would scrutinize the operations of the Commission from its inception to December 2020.
According to him, the exercise was deemed necessary, “In accordance with Section 85(2)of the Constitution of the Federal Republic Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) which empowers the Auditor-General or any person authorized by him for the purpose of carrying out his statutory mandate to have access to all the books, records, returns and other documents relating to public accounts of the Federation and of all Offices and Courts of the Federation, a team of Federal Auditors has been assigned to carry out a Forensic Audit of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities from inception to 31st December 2020.
“The assignment is to be delivered by Inspectorate Audit Department under the direction of Mr. Benjamin Angbo, Director of Audit to the Auditor-General for the Federation”, Aghughu clearly stated.
After giving an outline of the purpose, objectives and other details, the Auditor-General in the letter addressed to the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Mr James Lalu, went ahead to clearly state the responsibilities of the Auditor-General before spelling out the responsibilities of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities during the audit process so that there would be a smooth working relationship between the auditors and the Management of the Commission during the audit process.
According to the Audit boss, “the planned duration of the Forensic Audit is three (3) weeks subject to availability of records. Please note that the delays in responding to audit enquiries may affect the planned duration and timeline.
“The Forensic Audit is scheduled to commence on the 12th July 2021 and shall be performed in your office by the following officers. Olusola Olufemi, Team Leader; Aliyu Rose. Member; Ochai Sunday, Member; Omame Rabiu Tijani, Member and Samon Ibikunle, Member.
“The assignment will be performed under the supervision of Mr Fawale Busayo Ayinla, Deputy Director of Audit,” the Auditor-General stated.
It was gathered that this audit was a direct response of the Office of the Auditor-General to a letter of June 17th, 2021 from an American based non-profit group, Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities International, Inc (ERPWDI).
In the petition with title, “RE: Request to Conduct Forensic Audit Pursuant to Sections 37 (a-b) and 48-50 of the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018, the not for profit group through its President, Chief Eric Ndubueze Ufom and Executive Secretary, Mrs Ngozi Pauline Ikebuaku reasoned that the final audit report shall help to stop insecurity in Nigeria because the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities shall start to be managed according to the law in order to help Nigeria stop insecurity.
In the petition, the Texas-based group said, “We the members of Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities International, Inc (ERPWDI) (aka Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities Initiative (ERPWDI), Center for Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities (CAPD), Restoring Hope & Equalizing Opportunity for Nigerians with Disabilities (RHEOND), Emancipation of Nigerians with Disabilities Initiative (ENDI), FESTAC-USA, Inc and Kaysom Holdings, Inc, do hereby, move to invoke the constitutional power, vested on the Auditor/Accountant-Generals, Minister for Finance, of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Governing Council members, led by their Chairman, National Commission for Persons with Disabilities by both the Executive and Legislative Branches of Government, under Sections 37 (a-b) and 48-50 of the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018, to request from the Office of the Auditor-General, to conduct an emergency Forensic Audit of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, due to many valid reasons through a forensic audit to be conducted by you.
After stating the reasons and pointing out a long loss of areas that the laws have been violated within the short period that the Commission was established, the public-spirited group laid its prayers before the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.
“Please Sir, note that all the aforementioned have been grossly violated by the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities. This is because despite Sections 37 (a-b), which mandated that; The Council (Emphasis added to Governing Council members led by me the Chairman) Shall have power to:– (a) Manage and Superintend over the Affairs of the Commission and (b) Make Rules and Regulations for the effective running of the Commission, I was not aware or authorized all money received and spent by the Executive Secretary.
“Despite a very clear mandate set by Section 40(c), (1) There shall be an Executive Secretary for the Commission who shall: — (c) be responsible to the Council for the execution of the policies and administration of the daily affairs of the Commission; the Executive Secretary, since August 24, 2020, till date, has knowingly or deliberately and intelligently, conspired with a few people, to block the Governing Council from undertaking our fiduciary duties which were mandated by Sections 37 (a-b), which mandated that; The Council (Emphasis added to Governing Council members led by the Chairman) Shall have power to:– (a) Manage and Superintend over the Affairs of the Commission and (b) Make Rules and Regulations for the effective running of the Commission.
“As a result of the aforementioned, valid, arguable and verifiable denial of all kinds of access to all money received and spent without the knowledge and authorizations of the Governing Council and its Chairman, we and several other national and international Civil Society Organization of Persons with Disabilities, filed multiple petitions, to the National Assembly’s Senate and House of Representatives, Head of the Civil Services of the Federation of Nigeria, Secretary of the Federation of Nigeria, the Presidency, Police, EFCC, DSS, ICPC, Attorney General of the Federation, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Developments; United Nations, UN Women Nigeria and several other national and international groups. We shall be sending volumes of copies of our valid, arguable and verifiable multiple Petitions, to you soon. Please, Sir, note that they are all conducting massive investigations of those petitions.
“Thanks so much for granting this request to without delay, directly conduct FORENSIC Audit of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities,” the group concluded.
