BREAKING: Senate Halts 2025 Budget Defence for Auditor General’s Office

BREAKING: Senate Halts 2025 Budget Defence for Auditor General’s Office

By Fly Cable News

The Nigerian Senate has suspended the 2025 budget defence for the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation (OAGF), raising concerns about potential zero allocation for the office.

This decision comes as the Senate had set Wednesday, January 22, 2025, as the final deadline for budget defences, allowing the Committee on Appropriation to consolidate reports from various committees.

Senator Ahmed Wadada, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, dismissed Auditor General S.K. Chira and his team over their lack of preparation and poor handling of official documents.

Chira, appearing before the committee, was unable to provide satisfactory answers regarding his office’s 2024 budget performance. Tensions rose when it was discovered that the budget documents, he referenced differed from those distributed to committee members.

Addressing concerns over the potential exclusion of the OAGF’s budget, Wadada stated:
“It is up to the Auditor General for the Federation to get prepared and return, even within two hours, as Wednesday remains the deadline. The Auditor General audits government agencies, and the Senate Public Accounts Committee is statutorily empowered to audit his office.”