ALGON, EFCC partner on accountability, transparency 

As institute warns that ignorance will land council bosses in trouble

Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) has entered into a partnership with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to educate its members across the 774 local council areas in the country on procurement, financial spending, due process, accountability and transparency.

This was disclosed in a communiqué issued to journalists at the end of the 49th National Executive Council meeting of the association, held in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, yesterday.

The communiqué was signed by the ALGON National Publicity Secretary, Bala Chamoo, and the National Treasurer, Gazal Babatunde. According to the communique, the NEC reached seven key resolutions aimed at positioning the association to serve Nigerians better.

The communiqué read in part: “The NEC is collaborating with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to orient its members on procurement, financial spending, due process, accountability, and transparency.

“The NEC welcomes the inauguration of the Federal Government Steering Committee on enforcement and implementation of the Supreme Court judgment on local government financial autonomy.

“We appreciate the chairman and members of the committee and pledge to ensure the realisation of the LG autonomy, particularly in reviewing the local government structure to meet the people’s yearnings.”

The partnership was announced just as Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) warned that ignorance by local government chairmen across the 774 area councils in the country about the procurement act would make them regular victims of EFCC and ICPC.

The Director General of the institute, Prof. Muhammed Tawfiq Ladan, who gave the warning, yesterday, in Abuja at the Macarthur Criminal Justice Cohort Post-IACC Engagement workshop, put together by the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity (CFTPI), insisted that procurement process would consume them because they lacked knowledge about the Act.

He urged Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working towards a corrupt-free society to prepare local government handlers with capacity building before they start receiving their allocations directly from the Federal Government, warning that state governments might mock them when they start encountering problems.

He said: “If their capacity is not enhanced to put measures on ground around fiscal transparency and for them to see public procurement under the law as an anti-corruption strategic mechanism, every six months to twelve months, about 30 per cent of local government chairmen in the country will end up in EFCC and ICPC net.”

“The autonomy is like a trap for the local councils, the government has developed guidelines for them. That is why you see the EFCC and the ICPC issuing warning to the local councils, but I have not seen preparations from any of the procurement agencies towards local government autonomy.”

In his presentation, CFTPI Executive Director, Umar Yakubu, who exposed stakeholders to Article 6 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), stressed the need for stakeholders to monitor Nigeria’s implementation of the convention.

Meanwhile, ALGON has applauded the committee set by the Federal Government to ensure the implementation and enforcement of the Supreme Court judgment delivered on July 2nd on total financial autonomy of local governments.

The association described the implementation and enforcement steering committee as commitment by the Tinubu administration to revitalise local government administration in the country.