*Calls for strengthening of office of AuGF
*Seeks public disclosure of assets declared by public servants
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
A new report by Agora Policy, an Abuja-based think tank, has indicated that Nigeria’s impressive array of transparency and accountability measures were yet to yield the desired result on governance and development in the country, due to subsisting gaps in legislation, capacity, values and resourcing.
The report titled: “Imperative of Strengthening Nigeria’s Transparency and Accountability Measures,” while making a strong case for bridging the gaps, called for measures to make the anti-graft measures more effective tools for deepening good governance, service delivery, shared prosperity and democracy in the country.
“Whether now or in the future, Nigeria needs more transparency and accountability, not less,” stated the report released in Abuja and produced with the support of MacArthur Foundation.
“As Nigeria prepares for a new government, a stocktaking of the transparency and accountability measures is desirable to ensure that the zeal for anticorruption 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 stated that it examined 16 transparency and accountability mechanisms within four clusters: norms and values, public financial management, open disclosure, and sanctions.
Some of the measures assessed, Agora stated included asset declaration, freedom of information, public procurement, whistle-blower policy, annual and routine audits, government’s e-payment platforms (such as IPPIS and 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. 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,” stated the report.
The report also examined the rationales, histories, achievements and challenges of the selected transparency and accountability initiatives and made recommendations for improvements.
Some of the key recommendations included: 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.
Agora further recommended the strengthening of the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation through improved staffing and better remuneration of the staff of the agency, and prompt presidential assent to the newly passed audit bill.
“While the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF) has a responsibility to eradicate corruption from Nigeria’s public finance system, this responsibility is limited to the extent that the country’s audit law permits,” stated the report.
“Nigeria needs a fresh law that guarantees independence and powers to sanction for the AuGF in line with established standard of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). Without the powers to sanction, the AuGF is more or less a toothless bulldog,” it added.
Agora urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Federal Audit Service Bill into law before he leaves office, explaining that the bill, which was passed by the National Assembly on 29 March 2023, repeals the Audit Ordinance of 1956.
“The bill strengthens the operations and independence of the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation (OAuGF). It aligns with the present times and with global best practices and it enhances the utility of auditing as a powerful transparency and accountability mechanism.
“President Buhari refused assent to an earlier version of the bill passed by the 8th National Assembly. He should quickly assent to the 2023 version once he receives a clean copy from the 9th National Assembly. Whatever misgivings the president may have can be accommodated in subsequent amendments. Buhari should see the law as one of his parting gifts to the country,” the think-tank stated.
The report also called for the amendment of Paragraph 3 (c) of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution to ensure that assets disclosed by public officials can be made public by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). It also argued for improved funding for CCB for the agency to be better positioned to discharge its important mandate, including the verification of assets declared by millions of public servants across the three tiers of government.
It also called for the passage of laws to back up the whistle-blower policy and the Open Treasury Portal so as to address grey areas and make them more binding and effective.
It advocated for greater investment in capacity building and technology across the board in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
“Technology remains the greatest enabler of transparency and accountability,” said the report. “Thus, rather than contemplate the idea of going back on technology-driven platforms such as GIFMIS, IPPIS and the rest, the focus should be on how to improve them,” it stressed.
It added: “Capacity development should be prioritised as cross-cutting. Capacity building to bridge gaps in technical knowledge and skills in anti-corruption agencies will go a long way to enhance the effectiveness of the relevant personnel in these institutions and, ultimately, strengthen transparency and accountability,” Agora noted.
The report noted the allegations of sharp practices even within some anti-corruption and oversight institutions and argued that such practices gravely undermine the mandate and the effectiveness of the institutions.
To address the disturbing development, the report recommended for government to undertake rigorous background checks on the boards, leaderships and staff of institutions with anti-corruption mandates and institute adequate safeguards on the exercise of oversight powers.
“These measures are needed to ensure that there is a symmetry between the mandates of these critical institutions and the values of those who work in and lead them, that there are measures for ‘watching the watchdogs’, and that the anti-corruption institutions are not undermined by the same ills that they were set up to tackle,” Agora noted.
While also advocating for greater collaboration across tiers of government on transparency and accountability issues, the report called for a national campaign on value reorientation.
Commenting on the report, Waziri Adio, the founder of Agora Report 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.
