The Ondo State Government has begun the process of formulating a comprehensive Audit Bill for its operations.
The Bill is meant to provide information, curb corruption and ensure accountability.
The state Auditor-General, Mr Sunday Adegoke, disclosed this at a two-day workshop on the review of the Bill on Thursday in Akure.
He said that government planned to establish an Audit Service Commission.
He said that the bill, when passed into law, would make the state’s audit office independent for optimal performance.
Adegoke said the Audit Ordinance of 1958 and the Public Administration Law Cap 100, Laws of Ondo State, 1978 were outdated.
He said that the legal framework provided by section 125 of the 1999 Constitution had no specific audit laws.
According to him, states audit offices in the country have problems because there are areas of weaknesses.
“One of the key weaknesses of the offices in the states and even at the Federal level is the absence of a valid law to back up our operations.
“And of course, when you are operating without a law, one day, whatever you have done will be challenged in the law court.
“We need a law to give more teeth to the office because more is now being expected of the state audit office.
“At every forum on reforms that need to be carried out, the issue of corruption has always come up.
“And there is no way you can tackle this issue without someone providing information to those who wanted it during oversight functions.’’
He said the office of the Auditor-General was the most appropriate to supply such information.
The Secretary, Inter-governmental Affairs and Multilateral Relations Unit, Mr Femi Aladenola, said the programme was in line with the global best practice expected to ensure effective use of public resources.
The stakeholders at the workshop were the Ondo State Government, the UNDP and Banjo Ayenakin and Company.