It’s no more news—one in every five of the world’s out-of-school children is in Nigeria.
If that is appalling, generally speaking, the case of the northern part of the country is even scarier. In northern Nigeria, Only 61% of 6–11 year-olds regularly attend primary school, while only 35.6% of children aged 36–59 months receive early childhood education, as revealed by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
Nigeria’s education crisis is blamed on many factors most commonly economic barriers, ill socio-cultural practices and, recently, security challenges. But one prime factor is often ignored—corruption. According to Transparency International, more than half of Nigeria’s education budget is lost to corruption. Sadly, this robs the sector of resources needed to get poor children in urban and rural communities in school so they have equal access to education.
Although Nigeria is known for its low education budget, corruption is yet responsible for poor funding and thus abysmal infrastructures, inadequacy of classrooms and quality teachers as well as poor learning environment—all which contribute to Nigeria’s 10.5 million out-of-school children.
Arguably, war against corruption in the education sector seems the most vital step to reverse the dangerous trend.
This explains why Follow The Money, supported by the MacArthur Foundation, deployed its advocacy and project monitoring arsenal to ensure the delivery of $1.5 million (570 million Naira) in education infrastructure across four local governments in Kaduna State, playing a tripartite role: community engagement, project tracking and assurance of quality service delivery, and taking pupils off the street.
“Our work was important in Kaduna State because the state had signed up on the Open Government Partnership (OGP) – the first Nigerian state to do so,” said Hamzat Lawal, founder and CEO of Follow The Money. However, being an OGP member isn’t a silver bullet to good governance and accountability. “For democracy to really work in Nigeria, we must take citizen engagement very seriously,” added Hamzat.
And that proves to be true. “Before the coming of Follow The Money, the community was in the dark. We didn’t know what the government was doing to us,” Yohanna Zuberu, a community member in Jema’a, opens up in a documentary. His assertion would be affirmed by an official of the Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB). “There’s been a gap in the interaction with the community members,” the official, Mubarak Muhammed, said, adding however, “With the constant advocacy by Follow The Money, we are able to say that community members are more aware of what is happening around them. There’s this renewed effort to ensure that for every new project we must inform the people of what is to come and what the expectations should be.”
As of January 2020, Follow The Money’s civic action in Kaduna has facilitated the construction and rehabilitation of 23 primary schools in the four local governments of Jema’a, Kajuru, Kudan, and Zangon Kataf, with an impressive enrollment of over 200,000 children in those schools and other existing ones.
Interestingly, this effort would trigger unexpected results in Kaduna State. By September 2019, the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) had launched an extensive campaign, going far beyond the four local governments, to enrol 145,000 children in school. In a news report, the board’s Social Mobilisation Acting Director, Ibrahim Aminu said that the policy was targeted at all categories of out-of-school children with the aim to enrol 727,764 out-of-school children in the next five years.
Making the Impossible Possible
Children education is one of the most intractable social challenges in Northern Nigeria. No surprise Follow The Money is seen to be moving mountains.
“The strategy used in Kaduna to decrease the number of out-of-school children was to get the community members and the educational sector to work together. First we created School Monitoring Teams (SMTs) teams, which is a mixture of all the community governance structures to be able to track the implementation of school projects across board” explains Kingsley Agu, Follow The Money project officer.
Expatiating on that model, Hamzat Lawal notes, “Follow The Money bottom-up and top-bottom approach is taking data needs assessment from the community input, putting it into government development plans and taking government commitment down to the people to collect feedback.” On the Kaduna education project, he adds with stern commitment on his face, “Follow The Money would help ensure the acceleration and implementation of this important policy commitment from the government, creating an environment where citizens can give feedback and where they can hold their government to account on public expenditure.”
On rebuilding primary education infrastructure in Kaduna State, Follow the Money is not only strengthening accountability and delivery of public goods to the most vulnerable section of the society, it is improving access to education, creating new hopes for a better future.
“We have recorded a considerable amount of success in project implementation, especially in terms of transparency. Gone are the days where projects are being awarded and not being delivered even when monies have been paid,” a SUBEB official says.
Delta state, like neighbouring states in the Niger- Delta riverine region, has had more than its fair share of contention with one of its most contumacious problems: Open Defecation (OD) due to lack of toilets and poor access to clean water. Unfortunately the state government has followed the steps of its predecessors by assuring prompt actions to address the situation, but slow to back up its promises with sustainable solutions.
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State
In 2019, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa inaugurated the Steering Committee for the Water Supply, Sanitation & Hygiene and passed the State WASH bill to law, but the State WASH System has recorded slow progress in implementing the policies entrenched in the law. Despite an acknowledgement of the deplorable condition of WASH facilities in Delta state by the Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Ochor Chris Ochor, no significant step has been taken to improve the quality of access to clean water for thelife of residents in Delta State, especially the rural areas.
A 2018 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASHNORM) data provided by the United Nations reveals that 68 percent of the Nigerian population have access to basic water supply, and progress towards achievement of universal and equitable access to this water supply has been slow. Only 19 per cent of the national population use safely managed sanitation services, 24 per cent are still practicing OD in Nigeria and 30 per cent in rural areas. The minimal access to clean water, Open Defecation and consequently poor hygiene causes diarrhoea that kills children yearly and puts women at precarious health risks.
On the 5th of February 2020, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) signed a $60.4 million Memorandum of Understanding with Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State to improve the management and delivery of Effective Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Services” (E-WASH) services to help residents live healthier lives through reliable access to clean water. The project, closely supervised by Connected Development (CODE), a social accountability Non Governmental organisation will ensure access to clean water and reduce water borne diseases by “strengthening their Water Boards’ capacity to make solid investment decisions, improve billing and collection systems, and ensure greater responsiveness to customer concerns.” (Culled from the US Embassy to Nigeria website).
This partnership is critical as the geographical terrain of the Niger- Delta consists of creeks, rivers and large water bodies. The people of the Niger- Delta and Delta State particularly have built their lives around their physical environment; engaging in commercial activities like fishing; accessing water for household use from the river, and defecating in the same water with hopes that the river carries the faeces away. This thought pattern is quite excusable as the education levels are low with 65% having achieved at most primary education, and income levels correspondingly low. It is estimated that between 50 and 65% live below the poverty level. The complex social environment which has toilet spaces hanging directly above water bodies so that the fecal waste is emptied directly into the river has facilitated an unusually high rate of Open Defecation leading to extreme environmental degradation. Residents who can afford functional water closets are not entirely free from these challenges as the high water level and frequent flooding have the tendency to contaminate their supposedly clean water, making it good enough for only flushing.
Women, Girls, Children and Disabled people are the worst hit when hygiene is not prioritised. Children are exposed to diarrhoea due to unsafe water, while girls and women are not able to fully carry out their daily activities (being in school and going to the workplace especially), as they are forced to stay only in locations where they are most comfortable during their periods, this is usually the home. The disabled are also stuck while trying to use public toilet facilities that were not created with consideration for them.
Addressing the Problem of poor Hygiene through Improved Sanitation Measures and Accountability
Every reform must start from the top, and then cascaded to the people at the grassroot; in the same light, the onus is on the government to put effective measures in place that ensures the availability of functional and clean public toilets, potable water, and hygiene education of its citizens. State WASH apparatus, Rural Water and Sanitation Supply Agency (RUWASSA), LGA WASH departments and units, and community Water Supply, Sanitation And Hygiene Committee (WASHCOMs) must be clearly established and work towards one goal – To sustain better access to Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
To show the government’s commitment to partner with the citizens, Community Led Total Sanitation must be prioritised. While this sanitation strategy is broadly used in Nigeria, strengthening it will enable the system to yield maximum dividends. Trained WASH specialists should also be tasked with the coordination of educating communities and capacity-building in the most prone regions, with the purpose of driving behavioural change and hygiene consciousness. Educating members of the community (especially riverine areas) on the dangers of open defecation; and supporting them with adequate facilities and knowledge sharing that encourages them to take the maintenance of the public toilets as their personal responsibility will not only promote the well being of the people, it fosters unity and cooperation among them.
Directly engaging policy makers and stakeholders like USAID and UNICEF and updating civil society organizations (CSOs) like CODE, which is currently tracking the eradication of Open Defecation in Delta State, on the progress recorded on the use of allocated funds will ensure that funds released to tackle poor hygiene are well disbursed.
Prioritising young girls women, children and the disabled while restructuring plans are drafted will address gender parity, increase income opportunities for women, contribute to the overall well being of the family, ensure a progressive girls education, and make for an inclusive society.
In October 2017, CODE commenced tracking government and international aid spending in Northern Nigeria, with particular focus on first-mile healthcare delivery and infrastructural provision for universal basic education.
We were on a mission to advance economic governance and promote transparency and accountability at State and Local levels in Nigeria. Our team empowered 84 communities in Yobe, Kano, Plateau, Borno, Kaduna and Adamawa states with information, data and knowledge to engage their elected government representatives on funds earmarked for capital projects in their communities. At the end of the project duration, we had tracked NGN 523,743,810 (USD 1,454,843.92) and impacted 1,276,780 people.
To ensure community ownership of the Follow The Money model, we organised community gatherings in Yobe, Adamawa, Borno, Plateau and Kano States, hosting community leaders, CBOs, religious leaders, SBMCs and PTA members, women leaders, youth leaders, other local groups, and local media organizations from an estimated 40 communities across the 5 states respectively. Over the course of the project cycle, we discovered a large vacuum in information sharing by the government, low compliance to the Freedom of Information Act, non-inclusion of community governance structures in project implementation, discrepancies across project sites and low citizens participation in governance processes.
The picture of basic public service for the average person in Nigeria is bleak.
Every year, the Nigerian government budgets millions of naira on constituency projects, yet there is little to show for the improvement of public service delivery. A large portion of the budget (which funds sectors like healthcare, education, youth employment, etc) is believed to be syphoned by corrupt government officials, creating a huge trust gap and leading to citizens apathy. How taxpayer’s naira is actually being spent is a large mystery. The average citizen has very little visibility into where taxpayer money is going.
This situation has prompted a new look at the role of trust, as well as its relationship with governance and ways of restoring and rebuilding trust in different contexts.
Trust is the mechanism that makes society thrive. Nigeria’s institutions are suffering from a sharp decline in public trust. In times of disconnect and distrust between citizens and governments, the importance of trust is only increasing. But can we truly reach it? How can governments interact better with their constituents?
The event sparked deeper conversations about the culture of mistrust in the Nigerian system built over decades and began a conversation on charting a way forward to rebuilding trust in government institutions.
Speakers:
Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Dr. Hadiza Balarabe
Senior Program Officer, MacArthur Foundation, Dr. Amina Salihu
Board Member, Ministry of Finance, Dr. Joe Abba
Investigative Journalist, Mr Fisayo Soyombo
CODE’s Chief Executive, Mallam Hamzat Lawal.
The Webinar was moderated by Kevwe Oghide, CODE’s Communications Lead (CODE).
Quotes from Speakers:
Dr Hadiza Balarabe: (the role of Government)
The issue of trust in public institutions is not peculiar to Nigeria alone as many countries around the world are also under pressure to meet rising citizens expectations. She however stated that the Kaduna Government has rebuilt trust by providing functioning primary healthcare centres, laying-off incompetent teachers and revamping the education system in the State. She noted that signing up with the Open Government Partnership has also fostered the state’s culture of transparency and accountability.
Dr Balarabe noted that trust has been rebuilt because young people are at the fore-front of industrialisation in Kaduna State and they have been delivering enormously for the State. Adding that because of the level of trust built, Kaduna has attracted over $500,000 in investment. Kaduna also publishes her annual audit report yearly, organises town hall meetings to get feedback from the people.
The impression that citizens have of government officials keeping public funds for themselves is quite unfortunate. In Kaduna, we are trying to dispel this misconception by reforming the public sector, and entrencingh merit in our recruitment process of public officials.
“We will continue to restore confidence and rebuild this trust in our people by committing to being reliable, responsive, transparent and having better regulations.
Dr Amina Salihu (on the role of Civil Society)
Trust is earned as a result of being accountable, responsive and capable and civil society organisations are strategic pathfinders who need to enable citizens to recognise their right to access basic needs and improved public services and how they can use their voice and actions to drive change.
On the role of citizens; Citizens have a role to play by not being cynical when actual progress is being made, paying attention to politics, participating, rejigging our federalism and changing the electoral system. “We need to give a lot more chances to women and expand the space to change how Government is structured.
Dr Joe Abah (on the role of citizens and other issues):
The decline in trust is traceable to a number of things and reasons, and issues like the current corruption allegations in NDDC awarding billions to themselves in so called COVID- palliatives will continue to dispel public trust.
He opined that leaders must take initiative, rise to the occasion of responsibility and show examples for people to start believing in the system, stressing that there is the need for public officials to openly declare their assets.
Government constantly going against its laws and policies is a breach of trust. For example; the recovered funds from Abacha loots were shared without a clear identification database where citizens can see how it was being shared.. What’s worse is that it was shared in cash which goes against the government’s rules on cashless banking.
On the role of the citizens in building trust,; “You can only rebuild trust by trusting, it is important for citizens to hold the government accountable and monitor them. Even if you don’t trust the government, we need to continue to engage and also put in mechanisms to make it difficult for people to breach trust”.
Mr Fisayo Soyombo: On the role of the media
Although the media has a huge responsibility to play, the Government has the bulk of the job. He added that people who want trust have to earn it.
Most of the things that we consume as news are actually PR. This shows that journalists are being manipulated especially because they are not well paid. Government must be responsible for providing better governance, the media must ensure that public institutions are not deceiving citizens by engaging more investigative reporting. While stressing the need for more investigative reporting, he called on the public to support good journalism especially with funding. “If we want a media that is more alive, people have to support good journalism.” He also encouraged journalists to be objective in their reports.
He noted that we need a value-reorientation in this country.
In 2019, what we learnt engaging government MDAs post elections informed our overall objective at Connected Development (CODE), which was to begin a campaign that was intended to increase trust among citizens and government. CODE’s strategy was to create platforms for informed debate between public institutions and citizens and also advocate for more government agencies to leverage digital communications to foster trust, increase transparency and ensure better accountability. This has led us to organise this conference that seeks to increase conversations and raise citizens and government’s consciousness towards rebuilding trust.
Kevwe Oghide, Moderator’s Conclusion based on Deliberation:
Building Stronger institutions ultimately increases trust and When trust is higher, behaviours become more constructive; people are more willing to cooperate and support government’s initiatives.
We therefore need to consider how development goals can be achieved when systems work and faith in institutions increases. There is a role for everyone in rebuilding trust and we hope that this conversation can snowball into bigger discussions in smaller or larger groups so people can consciously think about trust – in their interactions with the society and their role in building it, trust is key.
It may not be a total cure; transparent and accountable governance offers a glimmer of hope against the flood of public mistrust. Constant communication has the possibility of opening public institutions to greater public understanding and appreciation.
The scandal that surrounded the award of the OPL 245 to Malabu Oil & Gas Limited continues to have a negative impact on Nigeria 22 years after its occurrence. This outrageous breach of law and fiduciary duty has been brought to international limelight – before the comity of nations – where it has further marred Nigeria’s reputation as a nation where corruption is championed from the highest political offices. This has led to a financial downfall and a near unsalvable reputational disaster which affects Nigeria’s GDP and its ability to attract foreign direct/portfolio investment. The impact doesn’t just end there and like any other corrupt practice, it has a significant effect on the standard of living and welfare of the masses. Below is an abridged timeline of “events”:
1998: On April 24, 1998, an oil company by the name Malabu Oil and Gas Limited was incorporated. This company had no legitimate place of business; no employee nor asset.
Just 5 days later, on April 29th, this company was awarded a lucrative Oil Prospecting License ‘OPL 245’ – to one of the most lucrative oil fields in Niger Delta, estimated to have about nine billion barrels of crude oil, and worth about half a trillion dollars.
This grant of license was made without a bidding process; without a formal application process “stating willingness to comply with provisions and conditions that will be imposed, and giving information about the proposed methods of developing the block” pursuant to the Petroleum Act of 1969; and without the full payment of a signature bonus fee of $20 million to be made within 30 days of the grant.
How much was actually paid by Malabu?
$2 million (out of the required $20 million).
What is a Signature Bonus?
A signature bonus is a one-time fee for the assignment and securing of a license, paid irrespective of economic success for the contractor or licensee.
How was this Possible and who were the True/Beneficial Owners of this Faux Company?
Malabu Oil and Gas Limited was (caused to be) incorporated by Chief Dauzia ‘Dan’ Loya Etete “Dan Etete“, the then Minister of Petroleum Resources under the then Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, using a false identity so as to award himself (since he has the power to award licenses) and his cronies.
Etete’s Cronies: the owners of this faux company included; Mohammed Sani (alias for Mohammed Abacha, son of the then Head of State, General Sani Abacha); Kweku Amafegha (a fictional character created by Dan Etete, the then Minister of Petroleum Resources, responsible for the award of the license; and Wabi Hassan (wife of Hassan Adamu, a close friend of General Sani Abacha and one time Nigeria’s ambassador to the United States of America). Etete himself was neither listed as a director nor shareholder of the company. He, however, used nominees and had beneficial and ultimate ownership and control of the company.
Who is a Beneficial Owner?
A person who holds, directly or indirectly, more than 25% of the shares or voting rights in the company; or has the right to appoint or remove a majority of the company’s board of directors.
A person who takes all or most of the returns of a property’s equity or monetary gains.
2001: In 2001, Malabu conceded 40% participation interest to Shell on the agreement that Shell would pay the Federal Government the outstanding $18 million. That same year, Malabu’s license was revoked and was awarded to Shell after a bidding process.
2002: Subsequently, in 2002, Malabu petitioned the house of representatives which then conducted a public hearing into the transaction and concluded that the revocation of the block from Malabu and reallocation to Shell was done mala fide (in bad faith) and declared it null and void.
2003: The House of Representatives, therefore, passed a resolution in 2003 that the block should be returned to Malabu. The Federal Government did not comply with the resolution of the green chamber.
2006: Malabu went to court and there was a series of litigation between Malabu and the government until sometime in 2006 when they entered into an out-of-court settlement which was subsequently reduced to a consent judgment of the federal high court, Abuja. As a result of the agreement and all the conditions set out to be met by all parties, Edmund Daukoru, who was then the minister of state for petroleum resources, wrote on behalf of the federal government, and on behalf of Obasanjo to convey the decision to return the block 100% to Malabu in accordance with the terms of settlement.
It was part of the terms of settlement that Malabu would pay to the Federal Government within 12 months $210 million less the $2.04 million already paid. This was not done. Furthermore, the then Attorney General of the Federation, Bayo Ojo, was actively involved in the negotiations and settlement. It is alleged that the terms of settlement were reached by corrupt means.
2011: After series of negotiations between Shell/Eni and Etete through Emeka Obi, an investment banker, the federal government revoked OPL 245 from Malabu, whose beneficial owner was Etete and Abacha and awarded it to Shell and Eni (Agip) consortium after a payment. Both companies purchased the rights to the OPL 245 for about $1.1 billion and the transfer was made “through” the Nigerian government to accounts controlled by a former Nigerian petroleum minister, Dan Etete. From accounts controlled by Mr Etete, about half the money ($520 million) went to accounts of companies controlled by Mr Aliyu Abubakar “AA Oil”.
Senior officers of both Shell and Eni were closely involved in these series of corrupt negotiations and sanctioned the acquisition of OPL 245 and the companies are indicted through the principle of vicarious liability as the senior officers were agents of their respective companies. Both companies also knew or ought to have known the fraudulent and corrupt nature and history of the grant of OPL 245.
Abubakar Aliyu and Emeka Obi, amongst others, are alleged to have acted as “middlemen” for top officials of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration and Etete in the scandal. Also, it appeared that the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the then Attorney General, Adoke, and Minister of Petroleum Resources, Deziani, facilitated the papers for the agreement and transfer of the said sum from the Shell/Eni to a Federation Account and finally to accounts controlled by Etete.
2017: In March 2017, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, filed fresh charges against Aliyu Abubakar, along with Mohammed Adoke, a former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, and Dan Etete, a former Minister of Petroleum, for involvement in the $1.1 billion Malabu oil scandal. They are being prosecuted alongside two international oil giants – Shell Nigeria Exploration Production Company, and ENI, as well as Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd, Rocky Top Resource Ltd, Imperial Union Ltd, Novel Properties & Dev. Co. Ltd, Group Construction Ltd, and Megatech Engineering Ltd.
2020: As of March, 2020, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] were prosecuting 8 defendants in the Malabu case on 47 count charges bordering on fraud, bribery, abuse of office, money laundering, unlawful obtainment, and so forth. As of the last court hearing “arraignment” on March 4th, two of the defendants denied ownership of some companies also being prosecuted in the charge sheet. The matter was adjourned to March 17th and 18th pending confirmations from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) before prosecution can begin their duties in earnest. This is 22 YEARS LATER!
The Malabu Scandal, alleged to be Africa’s most controversial and corrupt oil deals has indicted top Nigerian ex-officials such as; Former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke; Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Alison Deziani, Dan Etete, and so forth, and has set off a series of multifaceted litigations and criminal prosecutions against the litany of local and foreign actors in several jurisdictions including Italy, France, Netherland, Switzerland, United States and Britain. Some of these foreign courts have also indicted Shell, Eni and convicted few Nigerian actors including Emeka Obi in Italy.
It is noteworthy that the entire transactions “Malabu deal(s)” emanating from the grant of OPL 245 was built on a shaky, fraudulent and illegal foundation and thus, neither Etete nor Malabu acquired legitimate rights to OPL 245, as it is a common legal principle that one cannot benefit from his own wrongdoing “Ex turpi causa non oritur actio“.
In conclusion, the Malabu Scandal isn’t a Scandal. “Scandal” does not do justice to what transpired over 13 years, and managed to be lingering 22 years later without a single conviction of the perpetrators in Nigeria. What happened was a national sellout. Akin to how the Royal Niger Company sold the territories now Nigeria to Britain for £865,000. This time, it’s not the white man; it’s our leaders who hold their offices and manage our resources in trust for the Nigerian people.
Furthermore, it is my firm belief that the outrageous wrongdoings in the Malabu case are of a magnitude such that should stimulate the national consciousness and outcry of the Nigerian people, and actively mobilise them against corruption of any scale and kind. In addition, it is my firm belief that this consciousness and mobilisation, alongside the instrumental provisions of the Federal Audit Service Commission Bill and the Petroleum Industry Bill would strengthen the regulatory frameworks and institutions against corruption, bring Nigeria in tandem with global anti-corruption and extractive best practices, thereby deterring similar future occurrence.
Other Salient Issues Connected to Malabu:
A President’s alleged ignorance of the overt acts of Senior Cabinet Officials of his administration – who represented the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the “Scandal”.
Lack of Public Beneficial Ownership Data/Register, especially with regards to Private ‘LTD’ Companies, as the provisions are directed to Public “PLC” Companies. Private Companies are not bound by Beneficial Ownership obligations of Sections 94-98 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA). Guess what? Virtually all companies in the extractive sector today are Private LTD Companies. The NEITI Beneficial Ownership Register recently launched still has a long way to go to address this.
Excessive Powers of the Minister for Petroleum Resources. The current Petroleum Industry Bill that was refused assent by the President still gave enormous, discretionary powers to the Minister of Petroleum Resources.
Arbitrary and Discretionary Grant of Licenses by the Minister of Petroleum Resources.
Weak Petroleum Regulatory Frameworks. Many of the laws around the Extractive Industry are very outdated. The Petroleum Act; NNPC Act, including the CAMA, to mention but a few, are antiquated; providing fines such as 25 to 2000 Naira.
Weak/Limited Audit Capabilities of the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation. The Auditor General of the Federation has no special, comprehensive statutory, enabling enactment (besides Section 85 of the Constitution) that empowers him to audit statutory agencies, corporations, commissions and bodies. He also has no power to sanction MDAs who default in submitting their annual audit reports. However, while the current Federal Audit Service Commission Bill (which was also refused presidential assent) gives the office much of these audit powers, Section 85(3) of the constitution, including specific clauses of the Bill prohibits the office from conducting audit on statutory corporations, agencies, commissions and bodies. Perhaps, if the office had the required audit powers, the Malabu Scandal would have been detected a longer time ago.
Ultimately, Malabu Scandal is possibly one case out of a number; and if all the aforementioned issues are not adequately addressed, there might just yet be another massive, perhaps, worse Malabu in the Federal Republic of Malabu.
Charles E. Uche ESQ. is a Staff Attorney at Connected Development [CODE]. He holds a degree in Public and Private Law from Afe Babalola University, and the Nigerian Law School, Abuja.
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a serious challenge to the world, necessitating countries around the world to adopt stringent measures such as complete or partial lockdowns in order to contain the spread of the disease and this has had adverse implications on national economies and rural livelihoods. The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) had to close its land, sea and air borders and implemented a total lockdown in states and cities with very high infection rates across the country.
Consequently, state governments have followed suit. These measures have had its toll on individuals, households, micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) and large corporations. In order to cushion the effect of the pandemic on the citizens, the federal government had announced a number of responses: N500 billion COVID-19 Crisis Intervention Fund, 50 billion Naira CBN intervention fund for households and MSMEs, 20,000 Naira four months conditional cash transfer to the country’s poorest, reduction in price of fertilizers as subsidy to farmers etc.
A trader at the Mile 12 Market in Lagos.
Approvals have been granted by the National Assembly and the International Monetary Fund for Nigerian government to borrow 850 billion naira domestically and $3.4 billion respectively to help finance the 2020 budget and reduce the impact of the severe economic shock the COVID-19 pandemic is having on the Nigerian economy. Experts believe the palliative measures introduced so far by the government are not enough considering Nigeria’s estimated 200 million population. The continuous decline in oil prices which is Nigeria’s major foreign exchange earner and the subsequent dwindling of the country’s foreign exchange reserve has put the country in a very difficult economic position at this time.
It is important for the government to diversify its MSME sector to develop in all areas of agriculture, manufacturing, entertainment, technology and services as each of these sectors will continue to be very relevant to the overall GDP growth as well as employment generation in the country post COVID-19.
The budget should be revised downwards basing the revenue benchmarks and assumptions on realizable thresholds and estimates to ensure optimum budget performance. Government must at this time cut the cost of governance, reduce unnecessary expenditures and channel available resources into empowering MSMEs and stimulating the economy. Efforts should be made to limit importation and to encourage local manufacturing of most of the medical supplies such as facemasks, hand sanitizers, ventilators etc as to conserve our forex. The cash transfer palliative to the country’s poorest should be inclusive and there should be transparent, comprehensive and universal social protection systems to mitigate against the prevalence of poverty.
This report analyses the implication of Nigeria’s level of preparedness to combat COVID19 on its economy; the impact of the extremely decline in oil prices, and the influence on Medium and Small Enterprises in the coming months.
It’s been an interesting year already for the Follow The Money (FTM) Movement. In January, we officially launched in The New Gambia. In the following month, we were in Kenya to do the same. All with the goal of spreading the adaptation of the FTM model across the continent so that citizens can hold their governments to account and facilitate development in their communities.
After weeks of planning and strategizing, the team were in Nairobi, Kenya on 10 February 2018 for Follow The Money Kenya Workshop and Launch, through a partnership with the Slums Information Development and Resource Centres (SIDAREC) – a youth/children development project operating in the slums of Nairobi. SIDAREC playing a host to Follow The Money Kenya won the ONE Africa Award in 2008, for her rigorous development driven activities in Kenyan slums, just like we won the same award 8 years later.
The workshop which started by 11 am on the aforementioned date was attended by over 100 participants. In participation included the Chief Executive of Connected Development, Hamzat B Lawal; Executive Director of SIDAREC, Lucy Mukami; Member of Imara Daima County Assembly, Hon. Ken Obuya; and a cross section of other stakeholders in community development and open government work. It was held at SIDAREC office at Imara Daima and was geared toward building the capacity of the participants on the FTM processes, for domestication in Kenya. The sessions in the workshop ranged from taking them through Follow The Money workflow; data mining to activate campaigns; how to leverage on information sharing partnerships to access and amplify information; the procedure for organizing community outreach and town hall meetings; as well as a discussion on the political economy of open government in Kenya and operationalization of Article 35 (Access to Information provision in the Kenyan 2010 Constitution).
While making a presentation at the workshop
Other side attractions during our visit to Kenya included a community outreach to Mukuru kwa Njenga Slum and a radio programme on citizen engagement, active citizenry and social accountability on 99.9 Ghetto FM – a community mobilization signature of SIDAREC.
The most important aspect of the launch/workshop was that it was held in a community/slum away from being held in an extravagant hotel in Nairobi, a traditional fashion exhibited by some organizations, in a way to unintentionally mainstream the development buzz malcontents. Doing this in a community we believe will strengthen local ownership of the initiative. In addition, a Member of County Assembly was in participation committing to facilitating government spending data availability as concerns the Ward Development Fund, County Development Fund etc.
At the end of the workshop, Follow The Money Kenya was officially commissioned. Its hoped that all things being equal, the Kenya Chapter will leverage on several social accountability tools already existing in the country such as access to information provision in the constitution to hit the ground running, identifying potential funds intended for communities and deploying the FTM strategies to make sure open government and service delivery work in Kenyan communities.
Kenya’s multi-party democracy realization journey was a back-breaking one and it’s believed Follow The Money Kenya will ensure the achievement of democracy dividends; hold elected public officials to account; and be a tool for checks and balances, for effective democratic accountability in the East African country.
Chambers Umezulike is a Senior Programme Manager at Connected Development and a Development Governance Expert. He spends most of his time writing and choreographing researches on good and economic governance. He tweets via @Prof_Umezulike
National Orientation Agency is a Nigerian government agency created in 2005 and tasked with communicating government policy, staying abreast of public opinion and promoting patriotism, national unity, and development of Nigerian society.
Do Nigerians have faith in NOA to build a communication bridge for citizens to interact with the government? Is citizens’ inclusion and engagement in demanding transparency and accountability encouraged? Or should we go ahead and advocate for ourselves liaising with civil societies in ensuring that our voices are heard and sideline this agency and all it stands for because of constant interferences of political bureaucracies in decision making and activities of NOA.
Am a little bit indecisive on what to think about NOA, but not entirely conclusive because of recent development by this agency to partner with civil society organisations in Nigeria. NOA gave an open call for collaboration with CSOs on the 31st of October 2017 at Ibeto Hotel, Abuja where a good number of representatives from different NGOs were in attendance.
The Director-General @GarbaAbari represented by The Director, Planning, research and strategy Dr Bonat J. Tagwai gave a brief review of NOAs five years strategy plans and their ongoing projects was made available to all participants, and full involvement of CSOs in the implementation of this program welcomed.
Some highlight of their activities includes
A well-structured agency and adequately staffed across the country comprising of National Headquarters, 36 States Directorate, FCT 774 Local Government Offices and 3000 volunteer Corp.
NOA has visited about 120 LGA and communities to update them on their activities
They have interpreted the Freedom of Information Act into 20 languages to ease understanding of the Act and drive citizen mobilization and participation in demanding accountability and transparency from their government.
Has started a survey of 130 MDAs to engage public institutions
And have launched NOA FM Radio 97.7 though still test running and ideas will be welcomed on how to utilize this station efficiently.
Civil Societies present participated in group work to explore opportunities for partnerships with Short presentations of each group to highlight areas of collaborations with NOA.
A Cross-Section Of CSOs During The Group work
A Cross-Section Of CSOs During The Group work
The benefit for CSOs to collaborate with NOA was further stressed that based on their staff’s strengths and 3000 volunteers scattered around the country. Ease of carrying out campaigns using this volunteer will be efficient because instead of looking for new hands or travelling to places you don’t know, NOA could provide:
The contacts of their volunteers who are always on the ground in all the state.
Location and addresses of their state offices to assist in working in new terrains.
These, in particular, will assist connected development in further driving their campaigns and growing networks.
A Cross-Section Of CSOs During The Group work
To encourage full involvement and authentic evidence of collaborations, interested Civil Societies should send official letters to the Director-General making reference of this event.
Hon. Emmanuel Njoku and DG Political, Civic, Ethics and Values Dept. Mrs Ngozi Ekeoba
Connected development as started utilizing this partnership opportunity with NOA as our Program Manager for democracy and governance Hon. Emmanuel Njoku plans on working with NOA in his campaign Engaging Emerging Voters for young people below 18 years in senior secondary two and three respectively.
A little brief of the objective of the campaign by Emmanuel Njoku is to increase voter education among eligible secondary school student. The project hopes to create clubs in secondary school for sustainability across the country and provision of short training on democratic values for members
We anticipate NOA full support in achieving this campaign and ensuring that the younger generation will understand the requirement of leadership and the importance of voting to reach a better outcome in the 2019 elections.
Corruption is more predominant in Sub-Saharan Africa, mainly because, weak institutions cannot implement the required checks and balances required for effective democratic and accountable governance. Connected Development [CODE] through its initiative, Follow The Money (FTM), since 2012, has been at the frontline of initiatives that seek to address these aforementioned open government challenges in Nigeria through the civil society perspective of a grassroot movement. This, the organization is now extending to the New Gambia.
CODE Chief Executive, Hamzat Lawal, during an opening remarks at the NACEET
Follow The Money Gambia is a project under a Gambian non-profit, Gambia Participates, led by the young activist and youth leader Marr Nyang. The project aims to leverage on Gambia’s current political climate to entrench functioning democratic governance, effective public oversight, open government and improve the lives of communities in the country. Having mobilized young volunteers across the country, committed to following the money in their various communities, FTM Gambia flagged off the National Anti-Corruption, Citizen Education and Engagement Training (NACEET) Series 1.0. The training which took place on 17 January 2018, was to build the capacity of these volunteers on the FTM processes which they will step down in their communities, while they start running a campaign.
While facilitating a session in the training
As part of this, we were in the Gambia for a week, 16 – 20 January 2018, over a set of activities, all geared toward creating a favourable environment for citizenry driven accountability work and building the capacity of FTM Gambia. The team, which I was part of, facilitated sessions on the NACEET where participants were taken through the Follow The Money process.
The team with the Executive Director of National Youth Council, the Gambia
Furthermore, there was a press release about our visit, the NACEET and FTM Gambia operations. This was followed by radio and tv programme. Through these, we further sensitized the Gambian citizens on their rights, roles in the society and the essence of fulfilling their society-demanding responsibility of holding the government to account. Furthermore, these media activities were geared toward calling on the Gambian government to implement an FOI law in the country, so that citizens’ will have the right to request public financial information. Recognizing this to be an obstacle in the accountability work, fiscal transparency and the ambition of FTM Gambia, we paid a courtesy on the Lamin Darboe, Executive Director of the Gambia National Youth Council for a collaboration toward having such a law implemented. Such visit was also paid to the Director of International Republican Institute country office in the Gambia.
The team getting ferried across the Atlantic to access Touba Angellah Community
Obviously, we would not have gone to The Gambia without a visiting a rural community. As such, the team was at Touba Angellah in Nuimi, North Bank Region of the country, 45 kilometers away from Banjul. For a community engagement programme. The dilapidated health and educational facilities in the community were assessed for coherent advocacy for them to be fixed. This also afforded us the opportunity of conducting citizen education at the community with a focus on anti-corruption, budget tracking, active citizenry and social accountability.
The trip was a beautiful one, regardless strengthening the capacity of FTM Gambia in running campaigns, including having a well structured internal system and processes for improvement in performance of its activities for phenomenal outcomes and results, it was a great opportunity to meet our colleagues there. Also, we enjoyed good Gambian meals, met several friends and enjoyed the beautiful coastal scenery of the country. In addition, the NACEET afforded me the opportunity to meet vibrant and passionate Gambians who were ready to make sure their country works through being active citizens.
By the end of the year, FTM Gambia would have carried campaigns in 20 constituencies of the country, while being at the frontline of strategic and multi-dimensional advocacy for the enactment of a Freedom of Information Bill in the New Gambia.
Kufana Primary School, one of the PS’ to be rehabilitated with NGN 38 m by Kad SUBEB
In 2015, the UNESCO estimated that over 65 million Nigerians were illiterates, with adult literacy rate at 57.9% (National Bureau of Statistics, 2010). One of the major factors responsible for this has remained the continual rise in the number of out-of-schoolchildren in the country. Since many adults could not access basic education at childhood, the possibility of acquiring such while grown is exceedingly contracted. In the light of this, the UNICEF’s 2014 estimate of Nigeria having 10.5 million of the cumulative global 20 million out-of-school children, should be of great concern to the country, requiring a high-level sense of national urgency.
As part of the strategies to rollback the rising number of out-of-schoolchildren in Nigeria, in 2004, the Universal Basic Education Act was signed into law establishing the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC). The Commission’s mandate is to improve the enrollment of school children and reduce the current dropout rates. As a step-down measure, states created their own Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEB). In furtherance, the Commission provides basic education funding to SUBEB, mainly through annual interventions. Despite this, many of the basic education challenges in the country have not been addressed. In the midst of these difficulties has been contracted open government in the management of UBEC funds by SUBEBs, which has occasioned an enabling environment for corruption to thrive. Such corruption has jeopardized a conducive learning atmosphere for Nigerian children.
Following the foregoing, and as a countermeasure toward the open government deficit, with support from MacArthur Foundation, Connected Development [CODE] kicked-off a project in Kaduna State (as a pilot in the country) to mobilize the public for effective oversight on the implementation of UBEC funds in the state through enhanced citizen’s participation. Starting with four focal LGAs in the state, the project aims to strengthen the capacity of School Monitoring Teams (SMTs) which comprises of Community Based Associations/Organizations (CBA/O), Parents Teachers Associations (PTA) and the School Based Monitoring Committees (SBMC) to conduct high quality tracking of the UBEC spending in 70 schools within a span of 3 years. The project was launched on 14 September 2017 in Kaduna through a stakeholders meeting with over 80 participants in attendance.
A group photo after the stakeholders meeting
Furthermore, from 3 – 5 October 2017, Follow The Money team was in Kaduna over the next activity of the project, which were trainings for the SMTs on tracking UBEC spending strategies (for two days), and Kaduna SUBEB (Kad-SUBEB) on data collection and analysis (for one day). With all the participants wholly in attendance, the SMTs’ training went on smoothly and was hands-on following our level of preparedness which manifested through critical documents we made available to the participants. They included report templates to provide feedback after visiting project sites; list of projects, amounts and contractors to monitor; bills of quantities (BoQs) etc. It was the first time the SMTs saw such documents.
Group photo at the end of SMTs training
In a similar manner, first, during the Focused Group Discussion with the SMTs, it was clear that they have not been carried along on needs assessment across schools to feed the UBE action plan of the state, that is sent to UBEC annually, for intervention access. Secondly, the SMTs have not been useful in project monitoring across schools because they lack key project and financial data. While we noted these issues, the SMTs were taken through the set of projects they would track. The training for Kad-SUBEB officials took place on the last day, featuring knowledge transfer on data collection tools and methods, routine monitoring data and data process management, using MS. Excel for data analysis etc.
Lessons learnt from the trainings encompass, first, the SUBEB training should have been for two days. This will be corrected in the second round of training in the second year of the project. Secondly, the session which featured a group work for SMTs to examine the BoQs should have been facilitated by an engineer that understands the technical terms used on the documents. This was partly addressed by the re-iteration that the tracking should be a collaborative effort. So while SMTs are stepping down the training in their communities, trips to project sites for monitoring should include a community-based engineer for effective tracking using the BoQs.
Thanks to Kaduna SUBEB for all the data earlier provided to us which lubricated the project and most especially the SMTs training. The data encompass the list of successful bidders for the state’s 2014 UBE action plan which is currently being implemented, as well as the BoQs of selected projects. Tune In for other approaching activities of the project, which include town hall meetings across the selected LGAs on the school projects’ implementation. By the end of this month, Follow The Money radio will be live in Kaduna, detailing the progress of the project and enhancing citizen engagement in UBEC spending implementation.. Ultimately, join us here, https://ifollowthemoney.mn.co for conversations and development on the progress of the project.
Chambers Umezulike is a Senior Programme Manager at Connected Development and a Development Governance Expert. He spends most of his time writing and choreographing researches on good and economic governance. He tweets via @Prof_Umezulike.
