The body of Federal and State Auditors General of Nigeria has advised government officials to be more active in the fight against corruption in the country.

The national chairman of the body, Sunday Adegoke, made the call on Monday in Abakaliki during the official flag-off of a four-day capacity building workshop for auditor generals of state and local governments in the South-East region.

Adegoke noted that financial embezzlement and other corrupt activities have become a global problem and advocated for the complete eradication of the menace in Nigeria.

According to him: “Public finance actors, especially key government officials who have one or more responsibilities in managing public finances, are the parties primarily responsible for ensuring that this threat (corruption) is eliminated.

“There is a possibility and risk that public finance managers will be able to detect each fraud, that is, where they need to detect or prevent fraud in order to stop financial abuse and other corruption-related issues. In Nigeria.”

Adegoke, who is also the Auditor General of Edo State, explained that the workshop focused on ‘improving the performance of public sector auditors in terms of relevance and value addition’ in the country.

He said the capacity building program will equip its members with prerequisite knowledge and guidelines to ensure that the standard requirements of the institution are maintained in the public audit profession.

He emphasized that auditors general must always fulfill their expected duties as ombudsmen of financial reports to prevent fraud.

“We will come as examiners to look at the report they sent and the financial management system. And when fraud is detected, for example, we report it so that these situations can be dealt with as required by law.

“And we came here to strengthen the capacity of the staff,” the president said.

He argued that auditors general should be guided by the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution in carrying out the audit of public finances before submitting the report(s) to the House of Assembly in the various states.

He observed that since various auditors have their own codes of conduct that control the actions and activities of professional members, no auditor who makes a mistake can escape the wrath of the law.

The head of the sub-higher institution in Ebonyi State, Dr. Samuel Uduma said the four-day training program would greatly benefit general auditors, especially in acquiring prerequisite knowledge for the public audit profession.

He praised Ebonyi State governor Francis Nwifuru for sponsoring the programme, saying the gesture was the first of its kind in the country.