 participants, resource persons, ladies and gentlemen. The Office of the Secretary General, as well as the Secretary to Government of the Federation, as well as the Auditor General's Office, deserve our commendation for this timely interactive workshop with federal permanent secretaries and CEOs of MDAs. The focus on the functional responsibilities of these accounting officers of MDAs in audit processes and engagement procedures is crucial for at least two reasons. First, the public audit process is central to any meaningful strategy to fight waste or misappropriation of public resources. This is so because the audit is not only useful for discovering malfeasance but is also one of the most potent preventive measures. Second, an audit can be inadvertently or inadvertently frustrated by a poor synergy between the auditor and the auditee. This appears to be at least a cause for concern for the Office of the Auditor General. Indeed, it seems to me that this workshop may not have been as urgent as it is, but for the fact that auditors have difficulties with doing their duty, because often audit queries are not responded to, and this is a lapse that is worsened by the absence of sanctions for these derelictions. Additionally, audit recommendations are frequently ignored. There has also been for years the recognition of and indeed some agitation for the re-engineering of the whole public auditing process to achieve the robust external audit framework that the Nigerian public service environment requires and deserves. This may involve legislation to provide greater independence to the APEX auditor's future and even an audit law they require to strengthen the legislative framework for external audit. Having these issues is crucial given the enormity of the audit responsibilities in the Nigerian public service. A service that employs at the moment hundreds of staff, over a thousand accounting units and ministries, departments, and agencies, and every one of these approximately 1,000 units is required to undergo external audit every year by law and constitution. So there is clearly a lot to do if we are to fully support the anti-corruption and fiscal transparency agenda of the government and faithfully fulfill our obligations of accountability to the Nigerian people. I'm aware of the ongoing reforms at the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation, especially the introduction of audit methodology and international standards of audit, including the International Public Sector Accounting Standards, EPSAS. I'm also aware of the remarkable capacity building initiatives being undertaken by the Office of the Auditor General to get audit staff to attain the right levels of competency, given the very low bays that the auditors are starting from in their efforts to adopt international standards. Your efforts thus far are indeed worthy of commendation. So let me close these remarks by affirming Mr. President's commitment to this continuing fight against corruption and poor management of government's financial resources. This is even more imperative now on account of the sharp drop in government revenues in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. We simply do not have the fiscal buffers to be careless about the management of public revenues and resources. As auditors and accounting officers, you are the frontline workers in this existential struggle to ensure that Nigeria's resources are applied to the needs of the many millions who require it. I urge you to have posterity in mind as you work every day. It really is up to us to shape the Nigerian that will be proud to hand over to the generations to come. This workshop is therefore both timely and proactive. I wish you very fruitful and beneficial deliberations, and it's now my very special pleasure to formally declare this webinar open. Thank you very much.