The Auditor-General of the Federation, Mr. Samuel Nkura, yesterday urged lawmakers at the state and national levels to quickly pass the audit Bill.

Ukura who spoke at the opening ceremony of the 42nd bi-annual auditors-general's conference in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, lamented that the country was lagging behind even smaller countries in having such a bill.

"Nigeria as a whole does not have an audit bill while smaller countries of the world have the bill in place. I therefore challenge the National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly to ensure the passage of the bill," he said.

The auditor-general described the spate of corruption in the nation's governance structure as alarming and said it was a contributing factor to the security challenges in some parts of the country.

He added, "For emphasis the spate of corruption in our governance structure is alarming and has permeated all segments, including institutions charged with oversight functions. Part of the fallout of this is the challenges we are facing in the internal security of the nation.

"However, it is worthy of note that the result just released by the transparency international for the year 2011 indicates that close relationship between governments and business organizations has tended to heighten corruption in European countries.

"The same report acknowledges the contributions of, and rated the state audit institutions as best in performance. This should be cheering and should equally spur us to even greater fulfillment of our obligations," he said.

Declaring the week-long conference open, the Kwara State governor, Alhaji AbdulFatah Ahmed noted that Nigeria's preparedness to stamp out corruption would bring about rapid socio-economic and political development.

Ahmed, who was represented by Planning and Economic Development Commissioner, Mr. Tunde Adeoti, said that openness and accountability are critical elements to governance.