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 in Monday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint a successor from the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (oAuGF).
Hon. Bagos, who represents Jos South/Jos East Federal Constituency of Plateau State gave the charge via a statement in Abuja, urged to President Buhari to make use of professionals who have advanced through the ranks in the civil service and avoid appointing people from outside.
The current AuGF, Mr Anthony Ayine who is due to retire on October 25, 2020, after attaining the compulsory retirement age of 60, was appointed as AuGF by President Buhari on 12th January 2017.
Before his appointment as the Auditor General of the Federation, Mr Ayine who was born on October 25, 1960, was the Auditor-General for Local Governments in Cross River State.
Hon. Bagos decried the previous 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, harped on the need to encourage productivity.
“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.
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“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,” Hon. Bagos noted.
The lawmaker lamented that the practice, which favoured both the outgoing and his predecessor from outside as Auditor-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, therefore, advised 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 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,” Hon. Bagos stated.
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