BOI Tasks Internal Auditors on Global Best Practices

The Bank of Industry (BOI) has charged internal auditors to adhere to global best practices to remain relevant and attractive to business organisations, noting that internal auditors must support businesses to achieve set organisational goals especially at a time like this when the economy is in recession. According to the acting Managing Director, BOI, Mr. Waheed Olagunju, internal auditors must not only identify obstacles hindering business organisations, but also seek ways to support businesses to remain profitable without violating regulatory requirements and incurring losses. Olagunju who was represented by the Chief Risk Officer and acting Managing Director, National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND) Mr. Ezekiel Oseni‎, said: “Internal auditors should not only detect fraud, but help the management to achieve their purpose, but as we have it today, we have the internal auditors concentrating more on accuracy test, detecting and investigating fraud.” He however stated that since he assumed office as acting Managing Director, NERFUND, he had been able to recover Non Performing Loans (NPLs) from customers who initially did not want to pay back the loans they borrowed, saying that NPLs estimated to be about N17.2 billion ‎are still in the hands of those who defaulted in paying back the loans borrowed. “The good news is that many of the customers that did not want to pay before have all being coming around to ask for a loan work out where we would also give them concessions on interest, but I insist that they must pay the entire principal sum before talking about their standing interest while I have successfully been able to refer others that are not willing to pay to Economic Crimes and Financial Commission (EFCC‎),” he added. Source: Thisday