The newly appointed Auditor-General for the Federation, Anthony Mkpe Ayine, has encouraged management and staff to uphold integrity at all times, saying this is key in the Federal Government’s anti-corruption crusade.
Addressing workers in the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (OAGF), upon assumption of duty at the Audit House in Abuja, Ayine said besides President Muhammadu Buhari’s zero tolerance of corruption; an auditor anywhere in the world will be nothing without integrity.
Emphasizing integrity as the key for an auditor, he charged the workers to take up the virtues of integrity, transparency and accountability, before urging others to do so.
According to him, “it must start with us because this office has the constitutional authority to carry out the anti-corruption crusade even more than any other institution of government.”
Ayine added that while agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offices Commission (ICPC) derived their powers from Acts of the National Assembly; the Auditor-General Office derives its own from the Constitution.
Describing the Auditor-General’s Office as the “supreme audit institution in Nigeria,” the new helmsman charged the workers to always uphold the image of the office, as it symbolizes integrity, transparency and accountability.
Ayine said further: “We have a constitutional mandate that working together we are able to accomplish and to achieve the constitutional mandate this Office has. When we recite the National Pledge, the importance of some key words of the Pledge should not be lost on us. Let us reflect on what the Pledge says.
“In our duty, faithfulness, loyalty and honesty, are the virtues required of us, so that we can serve our nation well. We must realize that those virtues are very important in the discharge of our duties, including commitment and the need for a high sense of responsibility,” he added.
Ayine, therefore charged all to exhibit discipline and commitment at all times, “because if there is lack of discipline in the management staff it will pass the wrong message to the staff below. So discipline and commitment must start with the management; and once you see that in the management, it sends the right message down to the entire organisation.”
