ANEEJ expresses dismay over non delivery of mandates to citizens, by Public institutions.
By: Femi Mustapha
The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, has expressed dismay that a number of public institutions in Nigeria are not working effectively to deliver on their mandates to the citizens, and this has amplified the corruption situation in the country.
ANEEJ Executive Director, Rev David Ugolor, asserted this during a two-day stakeholder Dialogue on National Anti -Corruption Strategy (NACS11) and pending anti-corruption bills supported by USAID and Palladium held in Abuja on 29th – 30th November 2022.
Rev. Ugolor, who was represented by the ANEEJ Programme Officer, Mr. Innocent Edemhana, said the overall effect of corruption in the Niger Delta and Nigeria at large is negative with serious implications for security, living standard of the people, economic growth, and development, saying this affects both men, women and the vulnerable groups including persons with disabilities, even disproportionately.
The ANEEJ Executive Director lamented that corruption is a major challenge that is hindering the growth and development of Nigeria, hence it is consistently ranked one of the most corrupt countries or territories in the world as evidenced by several Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) reports.
He stressed that the 2021 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released by Transparency International (TI) ranked Nigeria 154 out of 180 countries.
“The latest ranking was five places below the 2020 CPI ranking in the country. Nigeria also scored 24 out of 100 points falling back one point compared to the 2020 CPI, indicating high levels of corruption as in the previous reports. Other reports, including the Corruption in Nigeria: Patterns and Trends Second Survey on Corruption as experienced by the population, 2019, published by NBS and UNODC supports this position.
Rev. Ugolor explained that the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) and other anti-corruption laws like the Proceeds of Crime Act 2022, provides the framework that outlines how issues of grand corruption in Nigeria can be tackled.
“There are also a few of the anti-corruption laws such as the Whistleblower Protection Bill and Witness Protection Bill amongst others that need the assent of President Buhari to encourage citizens report corruption cases if there is legal backing of the law that seeks to protect them.
“The NACS seeks to develop and implement mechanisms to improve the governance of public institutions at the Federal, State and Local Government levels and to remove corruption related factors inhibiting their accessibility and capacity to deliver quality services to Nigerians.
“At the level of the private sector and society, the strategy seeks to promote the establishment of ethical standards where they do not exist and enforcement of such standards where they exist.” He said
The two-day stakeholder dialogue is specifically designed to present the newly approved National Anti-corruption Strategy (2022–2026) for awareness and implementation process, share lessons learned from NACS I to improve the implementation of NACS II.