Communiqué issued at the end of the 14th Anti-Corruption Situation Room (ACSR)

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Communiqué issued at the end of the 14th Anti-Corruption Situation Room (ACSR) with the theme: INCREASING TRANSPARENCY AND PARTICIPATION IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SOCIAL INVESTMENT PROGRAMME organized by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) in Maiduguri on September 10, 2019 with the support of SCRAP-C-Actionaid and MacArthur Foundation, in partnership with TUGAR, National Orientation Agency (NOA), National Social Investment Programme, N-SIP, PTCIJ, EFCC and AFRICMIL

Background

Nigeria faces the grim image of corruption in almost every sphere of human lives. The country’s development and growth have been continuously undermined by corruption, leading to a string of social ills like poverty, hunger, inequality, unemployment and violence.

For Nigeria to assume her leadership role in Africa, transforming the economic, social and cultural lives of her citizens is crucial whereas this cannot be achieved without retrieving stolen funds and the investments of such funds in the most transparent and utilitarian manner.

Part of the strategy of fighting corruption is the recovery of looted funds and constructive engagement of citizens’ participation in how such funds are utilized by the government.

In the past, a large chunk of recovered funds has been consistently re-looted or ploughed into frivolous projects with the funds ending up in the pockets of corrupt officials.

This partly informed the concept of the Anti-Corruption Situation Room the 14th Session of which was held in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, one of Nigeria’s most ancient kingdoms with specific focus on transparency and accountability in the disbursement and management of the National Social Investment Programme (N-SIP)

Participants

Participants made up of individuals and organisations were drawn from various layers of the society, many of whom came from Borno State and other neighbouring states. They include the Special Adviser to the President on National Social Investment Programme, Mrs Maryam Uwais, represented by, Ms. Sola Afolayan and Justice Bibiye, the Office of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC, represented by the Executive Secretary, Prof Sadiq Isah Radda, Director-General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr Garba Abari,  Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Maiduguri, Prof Yusuf Moud Yusuf, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Maiduguri, Prof D. Gambo, Borno State Coalition for Democracy and Progress, Mallam Mohammed Wuyo, the Chief Imam of Bornu State, Imam Mongunoma, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), representative, Rev Emmanuel,  office of the Gombe Social Investment Programme, Zonal Head, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC Borno State Zonal Office, Mr Lawrence Iwodi, Borno State NUJ Chairman, Mallam Bulawa Talba,  NLC Borno State Chapter Chairman, Mallam Babakura Maina, Borno Sate Ministry of Information representative, Alhaji Tahir Isiaku and a host of beneficiaries of the National Social Investment Programme, N-SIP.

Deliberations

The session began with solidarity messages from the EFCC, the PACAC, NOA, Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ, the Chief Iman of Borno State, the Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN) and many community-based organisations and civil society groups.

Participants, after the keynote presentation delivered by the Coordinator of N-SIP, deliberated and observed the following issues with various comments, questions and suggestions made:

  • That bringing the Anti-Corruption Situation Room to Borno State is significant in many respects. Apart from the fact that it signifies the gradual return of normalcy, following years of insecurity in the State, it is also noteworthy considering the efforts of local and international community in addressing the problem of poverty and displacement, which are also linked to corruption and occasioned by the violence in some parts of the once peaceful State.
  • That corruption in Nigeria are in the form of bribe, outright stealing of public funds, illicit transfer of stolen funds which are often kept in foreign accounts, acquisition of illicit assets, all of which continue to fuel underdevelopment and instability across the country.
  • That the fight against corruption must be fought with the determination of all Nigerians for the prosperity and functional good of Nigerians.
  • Participants recognized the recent efforts of the Federal Government in retrieving stolen funds and assets and also take note of the striking strategy of disbursement of recovered loot with focus on poverty alleviation through the National Social Investment Programme with its various vessels like Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme.
  • That poverty remains a major problem across Nigeria. The National Social Investment Programme is one of the unique intervention mechanisms for dealing with poverty and inequalities across the country.
  • That Inspite of the remarkable progress made through the N-SIP, participants recognized some of the obstacles against effective, comprehensive and meaningful implementation at the States level, like compromised quality of food served by vendors and third-party politicization of the process which occur in some parts of the country. Why this does not erase the profound value of the programme, it calls for urgent probe and intervention by the N-SIP as the N-SIP officials have impressively done in related cases of earlier complaints.

Resolution

  • Participants identified the National Social Investment Programme as a commendable effort of the Federal Government, which appears to have made tremendous impact in the quest to reduce poverty in the North Eastern States and across the country.
  • Anti-corruption campaigns and efforts should not be left for the Federal government alone. The campaign should be inclusive. There should be greater community participation in the processes of the N-SIP which is expected to aid the feedback mechanism apart from many other associated advantages
  • Though, the amount given to the N-SIP beneficiaries may appear small, but the impact is immense and should be sustained by the Federal Government beyond the life-cycle of the initial implementation plan.
  • Participants commend the Federal Government’s school feeding programme which has helped in meeting the essentials of life of school children and vendors servicing them. However, there are shortcomings traceable to corruption and lack of transparency at community and School levels.
  • In order to deal with the problem of corruption in the implementation of the N-SIP, the Federal Government should strengthen the School Monitoring Committee to increase the level of transparency and accountability while anti-corruption agencies should monitor the implementation process for maximum output.
  • Beneficiaries of the N-SIP programme charged to be honourable and honest in the processes of their participation in the projects.
  • Civil society and community based organisations, henceforth must show greater participation in the N-SIP and volunteer to ensure a corruption free process as the issue of fighting the country’s ills is a collective responsibility.
  • N-SIP should make greater and more effective use of Information Technology to technically eliminate possible sharp practices and obstacles introduced by some community leaders.
  • The EFCC and other anti-graft agencies should design a method to protect whistle-blowers in the N-SIP project.
  • HEDA is mandated to officially inform the Governor of Borno State on the major setbacks highlighted by beneficiaries for the effective implementation of the N-SIP projects in Borno State.
  • Religious and traditional leaders are charged with the all-important task of admonishing their followers against stealing from the poor and any other form of corruption.
  • Participants commended HEDA and her partners for facilitating the unprecedented forum and platform for interaction which has helped in many ways in fighting corruption across the country.