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Calls for Wike’s sack
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By Henry Uche
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has engaged some journalists and some representatives of law enforcement agencies on a one-day workshop to enhance their investigative and reporting capacities on exposing corruption in the financial, procurement, operational activities of the defence and security sector.
Speaking during the training in Lagos, the Executive Director for CISLAC/Transparency International in Nigeria (TI-Nigeria), Comrade Auwal Ibrahim Musa, swiftly condemned the behaviour of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, towards a Naval Officer, A.M. Yerima, following the face-off that ensued in Abuja recently. The Executive Director described the situation as disgraceful to Nigeria and called on President Bola Tinubu to relieve the Minister of his job.
“The FCT Minister has done many damage and other financial recklessness. He has brought disgrace to Nigeria. In other climes he shouldn’t be told to resign.”
Put together by CISLAC/TI-Nigeria in collaboration with Transparency International Defence and Security Programme with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Musa, who highlighted findings from a Policy Brief titled ‘Nigeria’s Defence Sector: Persistent Corruption Risk Amidst Escalating Security Threats’, demanded continued support to national and sub-national stakeholder platforms that engage with the Nigerian government on key issues related to defence and corruption.
This, he maintained, would allow civil society actors and the media to provide input into national security strategy discussions and implementing policies.
The group pushed for the adoption of an internationally accepted range of exceptions for defence and security that can be used in the development of legal frameworks, specifically in the Right to Information (RTI) law or information classification systems. This, CISLAC said, is also important for regulations governing procurement transparency and budget transparency.
“We demand adoption of global principles and standards for public disclosure of critical information about the defence sector, including defence budgets, competitive contracting, defence income and foreign assistance, disaggregated expenditures, and asset disposals.
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“We demand establishing guidelines for separating confidential from non-confidential information, similar to the Global Principles on National Security and the Right to Information – The Tshwane Principles, would help limit abuses by setting out what information on budgets and procurements could be disclosed. For genuinely confidential procurements, a separate legal procedure could be designed allowing for monitoring by a confidential Senate committee and a unit with suitable security clearance within the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP).”
CISLAC called for immediate amendment of the Audit Act by the National Assembly to address current trends and challenges, while enhancing the effective functioning of the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation to fully interrogate financial management in defence and security sector.
They advocated for the harmonisation of legal and policy frameworks governing defence and security, both through independent analysis and via platforms for direct engagement with government actors. This, they affirmed, is particularly relevant for Freedom of Information and Whistleblowing and for public procurement processes and national strategy and policy development.
The Civil Society group sued for adequate monitoring mechanisms for gender-related compliance in the Defence and Security sector. This, according to them, will help to prevent gender-based violence and abuse during operations. “It has become imperative to fully implement the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 to adequately integrate women’s participation and representation at all levels of decision making in the defence and security sector.
“We must strengthen civilian oversight of the defence sector, both in the legislature and the administration through: Enhance skills within the legislature and parliamentary committee system, particularly regarding oversight of defence strategies and policies, defence budgets and arms imports, through administrative oversight of military expenditures through external auditing, improved tracking of financial outlays, and through administrative oversight of procurement practices through tender board controls and anti-collusion controls.
“We must strengthen personnel management systems for both military and civilian personnel, in collaboration with Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces through: Payment systems, including numbers of personnel, pay rates, and allowances, through formalisation and oversight of top-level appointments, promotions, and recruitment, through Integrity standards in defence personnel management (code of conduct, anti-bribery, anticorruption training, etc).”
On procurement transparency and oversight, they called for a review of the legal exemptions in Section 15 of the Public Procurement Law for military and defence purchases and recommended changes that enhance transparency and accountability.
