A coalition of 20 anti-corruption Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to demonstrate more actions on the 20 commitments he made during a 2016 anti-corruption conference in London.
The Executive Director, YES Project, Oche Edeh Precious; Senior Programme Manager, CISLAC, Okeke Anya; Director General, LAWNAC, Ezenwa Anumnu and Programme Coordinator Centre LSD, Uchenna Arisukwu, spoke on behalf of the coalition at the event marking the International Anti-Corruption Day in Abuja on Wednesday.
They said that Nigerian public officials have been quick to make numerous international commitments to tackle corruption and lack of transparency and 14 commitments were made as part of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) effort.
“In some cases, a modest progress has been made. The World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index has improved due to concerted efforts of the government and the civil society. However, majority of the 14 commitments remain unfulfilled.
“Twenty commitments were also made by the Buhari administration in London 2016 during an anti-corruption conference. One and half years later, not a single commitment has been completed. 50 percent of anti-corruption commitments are under-way, while 25 percent are inactive, 25 percent of these commitments are in progress,” they said.
They lamented that public contracting remains shrouded in chaos and lack of transparency, as Beneficial Ownership register is nowhere near completion and crucial asset recovery legislation like the Proceeds of Crime Bill has been stalled in the National Assembly.
They said the pledge to work towards full implementation of the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) has not recorded any tangible actions and the much needed public procurement reform is stalled as key appointments for National Procurement Council (NPC) have not commenced.
They chided the National Assembly for delay in the confirmation of 60 nominees for leadership positions across various institutions, including agencies vital to fighting corruption.
They said, “The failure to screen and confirm nominees from the Executive is undermining governance and complicating the on-going fight against corruption in the country.”
Members of the coalition include the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), YES Project, Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA), Connected Development, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD), YIAGA Africa, Say No Campaign (SNC), Centre for Information Technology and Democracy (CITAD), Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) and Partners for Electoral Reforms (PER).
Others are Zero Corruption Coalition (ZCC), Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Accountability Mechanism for Maternal New Born and Child Health in Nigeria (AMHiN), Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED), Centre for Democratic Research and Training (CRDDERT), National Procurement Watch Platform (NPWP), African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), Borno Coalition for Democracy and Progress (BOCODEP), State of the Union (SOTU) and Lawyers Network Against Corruption (LAWNAC).
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