KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY THE DIRECTOR OVERSEEING THE OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL FOR THE FEDERATION DR. ONWUDILI ANDREW AT A ONE DAY DIALOGUE ORGANISED BY PARADIGM LEADERSHIP SUPPORT INITIATIVE AT REIZ CONTINENTAL HOTEL, ABUJA ON 29 NOVEMBER 2022.
TOPIC: AUDITING ADAPTATION & ENERGY TRANSITION POLICIES AND PROGRAMS: PROSPECTS & CHALLENGES FOR SUPREME AUDIT INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA
PROTOCOL
The Executive Director, Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative, Ladies and Gentlemen.
I feel highly privileged and honoured to be invited here to give a keynote address on “Auditing Adaptation & Energy Transition Policies and Programs: Prospects & Challenges for Supreme Audit Institutions in Nigeria”.
Adaptation is defined, in human systems, as the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects in order to moderate harm or take advantage of beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, adaptation is the process of adjustment to actual climate and its effects; human intervention may facilitate this. Adaptation plays a key role in reducing exposure and vulnerability to climate change.[1]
We are talking about climate adaptation because according to the 2021 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), human influence has warmed the climate at a rate that is unprecedented[2].
According to the National Climate Change Policy 2021 – 2030, all aspects of Nigeria’s development are vulnerable to climate-related stressors. Its natural capital (including land, forests, landscapes, water, and fisheries) and physical capital (including cities, infrastructure, and other kinds of produced capital), as well as its human capital, are highly susceptible to the impact of climate change. Nigeria’s economy and other sectors of development are equally very vulnerable to climate change. Climate change affects the ability of natural capital, which is the main source of income and livelihoods for the majority of Nigerians, to deliver its wide range of products and services (including food, fodder, timber, and the regulation of water cycles), some of them vital. As aptly captured by Paradigm leadership Support Initiative, 95 million Nigerians are projected to live in poverty in Nigeria by the end of 2022, partly due to devastating impacts of climate change.
In 2012, the Federal Executive Council approved a comprehensive strategy policy on climate change: The Nigeria Climate Change Policy Response and Strategy (NCCPRS). The overarching objective of the policy is to promote low-carbon, high-growth economic development and build a climate-resilient society through the achievement of the following targets:
- Implement mitigation measures that will promote low carbon as well as sustainable and high economic growth;
- Enhance national capacity to adapt to climate change;
- Raise climate change related science, technology and R&D to a new level that will enable the country to better participate in international scientific and technological cooperation on climate change;
- Significantly increase public awareness and involve private sector participation in addressing the challenges of climate change; and
- Strengthen national institutions and mechanisms (policy, legislative and economic) to establish a suitable and functional framework for climate change governance.
A major basis for Nigeria’s effective response to the challenge of climate change is the implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement which the country ratified in March 2017. This Agreement constitutes an important milestone in promoting the transition to a low carbon economy.
The Nigeria government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari is not resting on its oars as it has shown kin interest in environmental issues.
The Climate Change bill was signed into law by the President Buhari in November 2021 in order to provide Nigeria with a legal framework for the country to achieve its climate goals, achieve long-term social and economic sustainability, and resilience. This includes the President’s commitment made at the COP26 in Glasgow, United Kingdom, of achieving net zero by 2060.
Notable provisions of the Climate Change Act, 2021, are as follows:
– it mandates the government to set a National Climate Change Action Plan and a five-year carbon budget (with quantified annual objectives) accordingly. Both of these are to be validated by the Federal Executive Council. The first carbon budget should be approved by November 2022.
– it creates the National Council on Climate Change and defines its members and attributions. The Council is in charge of implementing the National Climate Change Action Plan. The institution will be responsible for managing the newly-instituted Climate Change Fund. The Fund will be provisioned according to debates in Parliament, and enable the running of the Council itself as well as subventions. The Council will work with the environment ministry to organise climate action globally and for each economic sector. It will also work on identifying and implementing priority adaptation actions[3].
In addition, the Federal Government developed a national climate change policy 2021 – 2030. The Policy is intended to assist the country in achieving its goal of meaningfully contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions as espoused in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), 2015 and thus reduce the socio-economic impacts of adverse effects of climatic change. The medium-term outcome is to achieve a resilient socio-economic environment that promotes sustainable development and reduce emissions of GHGs. In addition, the Policy will act as a mechanism for coordinating development planning, financing and monitoring of climate change initiatives and programmes in the country. It articulates the goals and objectives for climate change management in Nigeria, as well as principles and strategies to guide implementation of activities aimed at reducing the potential adverse effects of climate change on the country’s development.
Other policies and strategies that have direct and indirect bearings on the climate change challenge include:
- National Adaptation Strategy and Plan of Action on Climate Change for Nigeria (NASPA-CCN) 2011
- National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy (NREEEP) 2015;
- National Gas Policy (2017)
- National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) 2016;
- National Forest Policy (NFP) 2010;
- National Forestry Action Plan (NFAP) 1996;
- National Policy on Environmental 2016;
- Nigeria Agricultural Policy 2001;
- Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP) 2016 – 2020;
- National Climate Change Policy and Respond Strategy (NCCPRS) 2012;
- National Policy on Drought and Desertification (NPDD) 2007;
- Great Green Wall for the Sahara And Sahel Initiative National Strategic Action Plan (GGWSAP) 2012;
- National Agricultural Resilience Framework (NARF) 2013;
- National Health Policy (2016);
- National Water Policy (2012);
- National Transport Policy (2016)
- Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (2014)
- National Gender Policy (2006) and
- REDD+ Strategy, 2019[4]
With the above policies in place, respective agencies saddled with of implementation are expected to play their roles towards ensuring that government objectives at mitigating, adapting and becoming resilient to climate change are achieved.
As it is customary for persons entrusted with responsibilities to give account of their stewardship, the Offices of the Auditors-General at the three tiers of government in Nigeria are on hand to evaluate the performances of such persons/agencies to ascertain the level of implementation of these laws and regulations and the compliance with the principles of Economy, Efficiency and Effectiveness.
According to the International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAIs) 100 (17), “the public-sector audit environment is that in which governments and other public-sector entities exercise responsibility for the use of resources derived from taxation and other sources in the delivery of services to citizens and other recipients. These entities are accountable for their management and performance, and for the use of resources, both to those that provide the resources and to those, including citizens, who depend on the services delivered using those resources. Public-sector auditing helps to create suitable conditions and reinforce the expectation that public-sector entities and public servants will perform their functions effectively, efficiently, ethically and in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations.”
ISSAIs 100(18) states that “In general, public-sector auditing can be described as a systematic process of objectively obtaining and evaluating evidence to determine whether information or actual conditions conform to established criteria. Public sector auditing is essential in that it provides legislative and oversight bodies, those charged with governance and the general public with information and independent and objective assessments concerning the stewardship and performance of government policies, programmes or operations.”
Climate-related audits are environmental audits which could take the form of Financial, Compliance, Performance or a combination of them but mostly uses performance audit methodology. ISSAIs 300(9) Defines performance auditing is an independent, objective and reliable examination of whether government undertakings, systems, operations, programmes, activities or organisations are operating in accordance with the principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness and whether there is room for improvement.
The use of this methodology to evaluate the performance of government agencies responsible for climate change management will bring to the fore, their level of efficiency and effectiveness.
Are there prospects for the Auditing of Adaptation & Energy Transition Policies & Programmes?
Yes! The International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI), through its Working Group on Environmental Audit (WGEA) has developed standards and guidelines for the audit of various types of environmental issues, including Waste management, Climate Change, Water, Biodiversity, etc.
In 2015, the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation, in conjunction with the countries of the Chad basin: Niger, Chad, Nigeria and Cameroon, conducted a cooperative audit on “the Drying up of Lake Chad”. A National Report and a Joint Report were issued at the end of that audit. See OAuGF website for the reports.
The key findings by the audit were:
- Weak Control of human activities on the use of water resources in the Lake Chad Basin; for instance, excessive extraction of water, dam constructions, diversion of rivers. etc.
- Water Resources Management decisions were not based on water-use-data;
- Water use regulations exist but not enforced in the Lake Chad Basin. For instance non enforcement of sanctions to violators, non issuance of water permits to users, etc.
The key recommendations were:
- Federal Ministry of Water Resources / State Ministries of Water Resources should put in place water use permits based on Water allocation strategy or quota;
- FMWR should put in place control measures to check and stop excessive extraction of water, dam constructions, diversion of rivers etc.
- iii. Ministries, Departments and Agencies at Federal/State levels should ensure water resources management decisions are based on water-use-data generated and shared among stakeholders; and
- Ministries, Departments and Agencies at Federal/State levels should enforce water use regulations and apply sanctions based on existing laws in the Lake Chad Basin.[5]
An audit was also carried out on solid waste management in the FCT in 2015. During the audit several gaps were observed in the management of solid waste which ranges from jurisdiction to inefficient management of resources voted for the establishment of Transfer Stations in designated areas within the FCT. Unfortunately, this report was not published so we cannot make reference to it.
An audit was carried out between 2021 and 2022 on “Effectiveness in Preventing Air Pollution from motor Vehicles in Nigeria, by NESREA”. This report has been presented to the Auditee, Response received, and it is in the process of being finalized for submission to the National Assembly.
Another audit was conducted on plastic waste management in the FCT but this audit had a lot of challenges.
The Office, in conjunction with the 8 (eight) other littoral countries of the Niger River basin, are currently conducting another cooperative audit of the Niger River Basin. The audit is at the data gathering and data analysis stages in the various countries’ Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs).
I have given the above examples to illustrate the capacity to conduct audits on climate change adaptation.
CHALLENGES FOR SUPREME AUDIT INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA
Supreme Audit Institutions in Nigeria face many challenges in the conduct of environmental audits. Amongst the challenges are:
- Lack of proper funding of the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation for the conduct of audits generally in Nigeria and especially Performance and Environmental audits that are cost-intensive. While the cost of performance and environmental audits may differ based on the peculiarities of the audit and the type of data required, on the average about N25,000,000.00 is required to do one audit;
- Jurisdictional factors. Environmental issues are cross-boundary issues and because Nigeria operates a federal system of government, Federal Auditors are limited to only areas within their mandate;
- Lack of data. Most times data required during environmental audits are usually not available or insufficient;
- Uncooperative attitude of some audited entities;
- Lack of adequate capacity to conduct environmental audit at the State and Local Government levels;
- Lack of experts or inability to procure the services of experts in specific fields of environmental sciences to support the auditors; and
- Non implementation of audit recommendations by audited entities.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Nigeria is already climate-impacted. The Vanguard Newspaper on October, 2022, reported the British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Ben Llewellyn-Jones, as stating that Nigeria is among the top 10 (ten) of the world’s most climate vulnerable countries. All the above listed policies and strategies, as well as Multilateral Environmental Agreements ratified by the government for over two decades now will be mere greenwashing, except deliberate effort is made and urgent action is taken by the government to ensure their implementation, through effective monitoring and evaluation and appropriate sanction of erring entities. There is also the need to urgently address climate issues in the ongoing amendment of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the duplicated and overlapping mandates and roles of the various tiers of government in matters concerning the environment, including land use.
To make Nigeria and our world climate-resilient, we need to strengthen international cooperation and local collaboration on adaptation and mitigation. Everyone is a key stakeholder: the Government, Intergovernmental Organisations, the Media, Civil Society Organisations, and the public. With a united approach we shall be able to mitigate effects of climate change and ultimately adapt adequately.
Thank you.
[1] IPCC_AR6_WGII_FullReport.pdf
[2] Auditing Climate Finance: Research and Audit Criteria for Supreme Audit Institutions (wgea.org)
[3] Nigeria’s Climate Change Act – Nigeria – Climate Change Laws of the World (climate-laws.org)
[4] National climate change policy for Nigeria 2021 – 2030
[5] Environmental audit report on the drying up of the Lake Chad
