The Auditor-General for the Federation has launched the Gender-Responsive Audit Framework, describing it as a strategic tool to strengthen public sector auditing and promote gender equity, social inclusion and improved development outcomes for all Nigerians.

The Auditor General for the Federation, Shaaka Chira unveiled the framework yesterday in Abuja at the Women in Public Sector Audit (WIPSA) Leadership dialogue organized by Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative in partnership with the Society of Women Accountants of Nigeria (SWAN) and the International Budget Partnership (IBP)

Commending PLSI for designing the audit tool, he explained that the gender-responsive auditing will provide auditors with an analytical approach to determine whether government policies, programmes and expenditures are implemented in an equitable manner that addresses the needs of women, men, girls, boys and other vulnerable groups.

According to him, gender-responsive auditing should not be viewed as a separate category of audit but as a cross-cutting perspective that can be integrated into existing audit approaches, particularly performance auditing.

The Auditor-General expressed confidence that the framework, which underwent collaborative technical review, aligns with internationally recognised public sector auditing principles and good practices.

He said the document would serve as a practical guide for subnational audit institutions to incorporate gender considerations into their audit work while upholding the principles of independence, objectivity, professional judgment and evidence-based reporting..

The Auditor-General urged subnational audit institutions to complement the framework with existing International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI)-based guidance and the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation’s Performance Audit Manual to strengthen the practical application of performance auditing methodologies.

The Executive Director of PLSi Segun Elemo in his remarks said the launch of WPSA was direct response to it 2025 Subnational Audit Efficacy (SAE) Index that revealed that only three of Nigeria’s thirty-six State Audit Institutions are led by women, while only five Local Government Audit Institutions have female leadership, and even more concerning, was the fact that  none of the thirty-six states conducted a Gender-Responsive Audit during the 2024 financial year.

He said the findings points to fact that women are  significantly underrepresented in leadership positions within public audit institutions and despite increasing public investments aimed at improving outcomes for women, girls and other vulnerable populations, the audit systems rarely assess whether those expenditures actually deliver equitable and inclusive results.

Elemo explained that Gender-Responsive Auditing Framework  is not a separate type of audit, but a cross-cutting analytical lens that strengthens financial, compliance, and particularly performance audits by integrating gender and inclusion considerations throughout the auditing cycles

He further described the the Framework developed by PLSI as a practical implementation guide to support public sector auditors in integrating gender and inclusion considerations throughout audit planning, execution, reporting and follow-up, aimed  to complement—not replace—existing constitutional provisions, audit laws, ISSAI standards, audit manuals and institutional methodologies.

He said ” It equips auditors with practical tools, methodologies, indicators and guidance to assess whether public programmes and expenditures are producing equitable outcomes while remaining firmly grounded in performance audit principles.”

The Executive Director of the Policy Innovation Centre  (PIC), Dr. Osasuyi Dirisu,  emphasised  that  inclusive  governance  cannot  be  achieved  without  inclusive accountability  systems,  stressing  that  public  audit  must  increasingly  move  beyond  verifying financial compliance to evaluating whether government investments are improving the lives of citizens across different social groups