The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Chief Nyesom Wike, has been urged by a lawyer, Jacob Udobang, to appoint a substantive Auditor-General for the FCT Area Councils to address the administrative anomaly and flagrant abuse of public service rules.
The legal luminary made the appeal to the former two-term governor of Rivers State in a letter personally addressed to him.
He described the absence of the office of a substantive Auditor General as a breach of the Civil Service Laws and Standard Procedures.
Udobang said: “To know that, the position of a substantive Auditor-General for FCT Area Councils has been vacant since September, 2023 till date the lawmaker noted, without it being filled with a qualified senior personnel is an aberration.”
The appeal letter was titled: “Continuous Absence of A Substantive Auditor-General of FCT Area Councils, Abuja For Two Years – Aberration and Gross Violation of Extant Public Service Laws and Standard Procedures Under Your Watch Is A Misnomer.”
Udobang emphasised that the appeal is the second time Chief Wike’s attention has been drawn to the issue posed by the absence of an Auditor-General for the Area Councils, referring to an earlier correspondence: “Passionate Appeal for Urgent Intervention to Safeguard the Professional and Independence of the Office of Auditor-General for FCT Area Councils, Abuja.”
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The human rights activist, who described Wike as an astute administrator, a man who undeniably sticks to due process and excellence in any position he finds himself, called on the FCT Minister to take immediate action on the issue.
He said his investigation for the past six months has revealed gross violations and fundamental breach of the Public Service Rules, Standard Practice and Procedures under Chief Wike’s watch as the officer acting in the capacity of Auditor-General since September 2023 was posted from the Area Councils against the laid down procedures.
According to him: “While the Deputy Director, who has been acting since September, 2023 was preparing for retirement, another staff from the Area Council was posted as Director of Accounts, occupying the office of the Auditor-General since August 24, 2024 without legal instrument acting in error.”
Udobang said these and many more of such practices amounted to an aberration, which does not promote meritocracy in the service and the office of Auditor-General for Area Councils, which should be independent and growing through the ranks like other establishments.
These lacuna, Udobang stated, has resulted in internal maladministration, including but not limited to the office of the Auditor-General’s inability to renew its rent over the office/property or acquiring alternative accommodation since 2023.
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