Nigeria Content Online

The senate
yesterday confirmed Samuel Ukura as the Auditor-General of the
Federation (AGF), shoving aside stiff opposition to his appointment
from some senators.

Senators,
especially those from the south western Nigeria, strongly opposed the
confirmation of Mr. Ukura, who is from Benue State on the ground that
the appointment lacked transparency, accountability and rule of law.

The senators argued
that two directors in the office of the Auditor-General, both from the
south-west, were qualified for the position and were deliberately
excluded in favour of Mr. Ukura.

Sola Akinyede (PDP
Ekiti state) argued that a requirement in the job advert that a
candidate for the position must not be retiring in two years from the
date of appointment excluded his constituents, who all had less than
two years to spend in the civil service.

“The process lack
accountability, transparency and rule of law,” Mr. Akinyede said. “We
should not set a flood gate to marginalize people.”

Arguing in the same
line with Mr. Akinyede, Isiaka Adeleke (PDP Osun state) said the
appointment of Mr. Ukura as the AGF by the president was a deliberate
attempt to exclude those directors in the office of the auditor-general
because they are from the South West geo-political zone. The senate
president David Mark, however, warned the senators against trivialising
the office, saying it will be unruly for the senate to interfere with
the selection procedure of auditor generals, especially when the
constitution has given the Federal Civil Service Commission the powers
to conduct such rudimentary screenings.

Ahmed Lawan (Yobe
North), who led debate on the confirmation, countered the arguments of
the opposing senators by saying the nominee was screened based on his
character, qualification and his credible performance when he was the
auditor-general of Benue State.

Leading the debate
on the report of the Committee on Public Accounts, the Chairman of the
Committee, Dairu Kuta however commended the Committee for a job well
done, adding that there was nowhere in the Constitution that says the
person for the position should be director or assistant to the
auditor-general.

“The submission is in the right direction,” he said.

Opposition to Mr.
Ukura’s appointment has been long. In October last year, when he was
nominated by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, there have been
outcry in some quarters that confirming Ukura, an indigene of Benue
state in the North Central Zone, would amount to handing over the
entire public finance system of the country to the northern
geo-political sector.

In the end, majority of the senators voted for his confirmation as the AGF.