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Agora Policy: Why Nigeria needs to fortify anti-graft measures

By Waliat Musa
03 April 2023   |   5:02 am
Nigeria's impressive array of transparency and accountability measures has not wrought the desired effect on governance and development because of gaps in legislation, capacity, values and resourcing, a new report by Agora Policy, an Abuja-based think tank, has revealed.

Executive Secretary, NEITI, Waziri Adio

Nigeria’s impressive array of transparency and accountability measures has not wrought the desired effect on governance and development because of gaps in legislation, capacity, values and resourcing, a new report by Agora Policy, an Abuja-based think tank, has revealed.

Entitled ‘Imperative of Strengthening Nigeria’s Transparency and Accountability Measures,’ the report, which was released yesterday, makes a strong case for bridging the gaps and for sustaining and strengthening the various anti-corruption measures to make them more effective for deepening good governance in the country.

“Whether now or in the future, Nigeria needs more transparency and accountability, not less. As it prepares for a new government, a stocktaking of the transparency and accountability measures is desirable to ensure that the zeal for anti-corruption is sustained and that the prevailing measures are fit for purpose, and further strengthened and institutionalised,” the report added.

Put together by a group of experts, the report, with the support of MacArthur Foundation, examined 16 transparency and accountability mechanisms within four clusters: norms and values, public financial management, open disclosure and sanctions.

Some of the measures assessed include asset declaration, freedom of information, public procurement, whistle-blower policy, yearly and routine audit, government’s e-payment platforms – such as Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system (IPPIS) and Government Integrated Financial Management. Information System (GIFMIS), publication of subnational transfers, disclosure of extractive sector revenues and beneficial ownership to prosecution and asset recovery.

“Most of the interventions have been made since the return to civil rule in 1999, and some of them have yielded some results and milestones,” states the report.

“Despite the achievements, the problem of transparency and accountability remains. The assumption that transparency and accountability automatically lead to good governance did not take into account attendant challenges such as social behaviours in the forms of resistance and sabotage.”

The report examines the rationales, histories, achievements and challenges of select transparency and accountability initiatives, then makes recommendations for improvements. Some of the key recommendations include the need to enhance legal backing for some of the initiatives, faithful enforcement or implementation of existing laws, improvement in capacity and funding for some of the implementing agencies, enhancement of collaboration across tiers of government and implementation of a sustained and strategic campaign on value reorientation.

The report recommends: prompt presidential assent to the newly passed Federal Audit Service Bill, integrity checks on heads and staff of organisations with anti-corruption mandates; disclosure of assets declared by public servants to Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), improved resourcing and capacity building for anti-corruption agencies, as well as enhanced checks and balances to ensure the watchdogs are not mired in corruption, and national reorientation campaign to tackle values and attitudes that enable public corruption

Commenting on the report, founder of Agora Report, Waziri Adio, said: “This is a very timely report. At a moment of transition, there is a danger that the focus on anti-corruption may fade, especially given how anti-corruption barely registered as a major campaign issue during the 2023 elections.

The report is an important reminder about the centrality of transparency and accountability to citizens’ welfare and the democratic project. It also underscores the heavy investments that Nigeria and its development partners have made in the transparency and accountability space over time, perhaps even more than in some advanced countries, and the need to ensure that these investments do not waste, that the country derives adequate returns on these vital investments.”

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