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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye in New York
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has regretted the high high level of corruption, as captured in the 2022 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released globally by Transparency International where Nigeria scored 24 out of 100 points.
The Executive Director of CISLAC and the head of Transparency International in Nigeria, Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani, stated this Thursday, while presenting the Nigeria’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 16 2022 Shadow Report, at the Salvation Army Auditorium, International Justice Commission on the sidelines of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
The First Lady of Nigeria, Oluremi Tinubu, who was present at the event
received the report.
Rafsanjani, who said the report is the 6th edition in the series of annual shadow reports which measure Nigeria’s progress on SDG 16 specifically targeting 16.4 dealing with anti-money laundering; 16.5 which looks at beneficial ownership and 16.10 which looks at access to information.
While noting that Nigeria has improved in two indicators including improvement in the policy area of Beneficial Ownership, this year’s report, he said: “Sadly, we need to do more as a nation to ensure that this trend doesn’t continue. As we all know, in the just concluded election, ant-corruption was not a major issue agenda when compared to previous election and this is disturbing.
“Already, we have seen leadership appointment given to persons who have been fingered in corrupt acts nationally and internationally and this is very sad because it sends a wrong signal to the international community.”
While urging institutional independence, CISLAC emphasised the importance of upholding the constitution of Nigeria’s principle of separation of powers.
The CISLAC boss said: “Court rulings should be respected and where individuals, government entities or other arms of government disagree, they should seek redress through constitutional means.
“This independence should also extend to the anti-graft agencies from their budgetary allocations to their appointment and removal of their heads.
Due process should be followed always.”
Rafsanjani noted the insecurity across the country as another challenge with Nigeria’s attainment of the SDG targets, saying: “This has resulted in Nigeria’s failure to meet its oil production output target given by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), thereby creating revenue shortage for Nigeria.
“Nigeria’s challenge in revenue generation and the absence of prudent resource mismanagement has led to an enormous increase in borrowing which has resulted in a surge in national debt.
“The continuous appetite for luxurious items like vehicles by political office holders doesn’t help matters. Nigeria’s total public debt has hit N87.38 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2023 according to Nigeria’s Debt Management Office and this is not sustainable.
“The last factor which poses as a bottleneck on tangible progress is the actions of the government against the domestication by States and effective use of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act freedom of speech and freedom of the press. As at May 2023, official data has stated that only 20 States out of the 36 States have domesticated the FOI in Nigeria (16 States are yet to domesticate the Act).
“This is one of the mechanisms that serves to promote transparency and accountability in government giving citizens access to information and enhancing their capacity to demand accountability.”
Rafsanjani said CISLAC is readily available to help Federal Government attainment of the SDGs
He said: “So in summary, what we are saying is that Nigeria need to do more in order to achieve sustainable development goals, especially a goal 16, which talks about justice, talk about peace, which talk about anti corruption, we have a lot of work to do, and we are happy to support our government to achieve that the government is willing and ready.”
According to CISLAC, it will be difficult to achieve the SDGs if there is no way to overcome the problems that have been recognised.
In order to ensure the safety of the lives and liberties of Nigerians as well as to lessen corruption inside the government, he expressed the hope that the report’s recommendations would be implemented by the proper authorities.
In his goodwill message, Samuel Kananda of Transparency International Berlin, noted that this year’s report comes halfway to the target year for the achievement of all SDGs 2030.
He said: “That makes it critical for one to stop, take stock, look at achievement made and also challenges encountered and lessons to be drawn. So that looking to 2030 all systems will go towards ensuring that the maximum possible is delivered in terms of commitments made by world leaders in 2015 in terms of this 2030 agenda.”
He added: “That’s why the contribution of not only government but also civil society is important to make sure that we do not miss this target as a global community.”
The Nigeria of Nigeria, other development partners of the country, to receive the recommendations as a contribution to this exercise of monitoring in order to ensure that no one is left behind in terms of all the goals that are important for the world’s to pull itself out of some of the challenges of poverty.
“We see the rise in terms of the consequences of climate change. We also see an increasing pressure in terms of food security, but is also in the context of Nigeria and the Sahel region, issues to do with peace and security.
“It therefore calls for careful planning and making sure that resources that are available to address these challenges among many others, are utilized for their intended purposes. And for this, it’s therefore important to curb corruption and to make sure that transparency, accountability and integrity remain key central to the achievement or the implementation of SDGs plans in all our countries.”
