During the signing ceremony, which took place at Audit House, Abuja, Acting Auditor-General for the Federation, Dr. Andrew Onwudili, said: “The partnership is a great opportunity to further define new frontiers of what our two institutions hold dear and beneficial to the citizens of this great country, as we entrench probity and accountability in the public sector, and the country at large.
“None of us can do the job alone. Our joint efforts will make us to do the job better.”
He said his office, in partnership with CIFCFIN, would be better equipped to fight corruption in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), as both are bringing different skill sets to the table on ways and means of tackling the menace.
In his remarks, CIFCFIN President, Dr. Iliyasu Gashinbaki, noted: “The partnership will be very transformative when it comes to audit, as we know it, and in particular, the infusion of forensics and fraud investigation into the practice of audit. I think it will go a long way in reducing, if not eliminating the massive corruption challenges that we have, when it comes to financial statements of governments, as we have seen over the years.”
According to the CIFCFIN boss, the partnership is to build capacity in the area of forensics and fraud investigation, particularly for the directorate cadre across the three tiers of government.
“We feel that capacity building will never be enough and as such, it is important that such partnership for capacity building is entrenched,” he added.
Since CIFCFIN became chartered with the President signing the bill establishing it into law on December 23, 2022, the institute has been striking strategic alliances with anti-corruption agencies, para-military and other agencies to enhance capacity in forensics and fraud investigation in its day-to-day operations.
