The Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI) celebrated its 10th anniversary on October 1, 2026, with a renewed call for a modern Federal Audit Law in Nigeria. PLSI's Founder and Executive Director, Olusegun Elemo, stated that the country needs a stronger legal framework for public auditing to safeguard public resources and improve service delivery. Elemo made this statement in Abuja, highlighting the organization's decade-long efforts to address concerns over weak public accountability and limited access to audit reports.
PLSI was established in 2016 in response to concerns over weak public accountability and limited access to audit reports. Over the past decade, the organization has invested in research, institutional strengthening, citizen engagement, policy advocacy, and civic technology. Elemo noted that while progress has been made in public audit transparency, significant gaps remain. The Federal Government has been implementing national budgets running into trillions of Naira since 2016 without a federal audit law, while the 2026 budget stands at N68 trillion.
The 2024 Federal Audit Report revealed over N1.39 trillion in financial irregularities and control failures across federal institutions. The irregularities include unsupported payments, unremitted revenues, irregular contracts, and other weaknesses. Elemo emphasized that the greater challenge today is institutionalizing public accountability to ensure Nigeria's audit system produces fiscal guardrails, recovery, consequences, reform, and effective services to citizens.
Elemo urged President Bola Tinubu to act on the Federal Audit Service Bill, providing a modern legal framework for public auditing. He stressed that accountability should go beyond determining whether public funds were properly spent, focusing on performance auditing in the next decade. PLSI aims to strengthen the connection between public resources and public outcomes, institutions and consequences, elections and governance, as well as citizens and decisions that affect their lives.
Ahead of the 2027 general elections, Elemo called for greater emphasis on policy and measurable development outcomes in political campaigns. Candidates should present voters with costed manifestos outlining problems to be addressed, plans, costs, and financing. Elemo also urged citizens to reject violence, vote buying, vote selling, intimidation, disinformation, and divisive politics, emphasizing the need for issues, policies, and development outcomes to be at the center of campaigns.
PLSI has initiated several projects, including the annual Subnational Audit Efficacy Index, Nigeria Accountability Summit, Women in Public Sector Audit in Nigeria Leadership Dialogue, Value for Money, Resource Benefits, Policy Tracker, ÀDÉHÙN, and the Emissions Monitoring and Accountability Tool. Elemo highlighted that citizens experience governance through the quality of public services delivered in their communities, such as schools, hospitals, roads, water, security, jobs, and opportunities.
As PLSI looks to its next decade, Elemo emphasized the need for a stronger connection between public resources and public outcomes. The organization will focus on performance auditing, ensuring that Nigeria's audit system consistently produces fiscal guardrails, recovery, consequences, reform, and effective services to citizens. Elemo's call for a modern audit law and performance auditing aims to improve public accountability and service delivery in Nigeria.
Key points
- PLSI calls for a modern Federal Audit Law to safeguard public resources and improve service delivery.
- The organization emphasizes the need for performance auditing ahead of the 2027 general elections.
- PLSI urges candidates to present costed manifestos with measurable development outcomes in their campaigns.
