By Emmanuel Afonne

The Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity (CeFTPI) has identified poor implementation of anti graft laws as a major challenge in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.

The Executive Director, CeFTPI, Dr Umar Yakubu said this  at a Criminal Justice Cohort Post-IACC Engagement Workshop organised by MacArthur Foundation, on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said the workshop became necessary to review decisions reached at the international anti corruption conference held in Lithuania in June concerning the fight against corruption.

“We agreed to develop a mechanism for monitoring implementation of all the anti corruption instruments and coordinates in various countries including Nigeria.’’

According to him, the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the media are the major partners in achieving the task of monitoring the government and its institutions responsible for fighting corruption.

“So, that is where CSOs and the media can come in and monitor to ensure that the government is implementing all the commitments it has made.

Yakubu said Nigeria had made all the laws necessary to fight corruption but found it difficult to implement them.

He, therefore, urged the government to step up the fight against corruption to save the country from economic collapse.

“When things are new, there is resistance to change and some of them are legal-based which means that laws must be changed but the most challenging is implementation.

“We don’t have a problem with our laws but the problem of implementation.

“So, what we did in Lithuania was to develop a mechanism for monitoring implementation of all the anti-corruption instruments and all the anti-corruption coordinates we have in Nigeria.

“That is why we are having this post-conference meeting to discuss the implementation; we as CSO and the media should start to implement the recommendations of the conference.’’

He also alleged that procurement in various offices had become a conduit pipe for syphoning funds, adding that transparency had become the greatest tool for curbing procurement fraud.

He stressed the need to pressure the three tiers of government to ensure that all procurement processes are conducted transparently.

“We are talking about enhancing procurement processes to reduce corruption, monitoring climate finance, electoral integrity of people we vote into office and the level of integrity they should have.

“We are also talking about illicit financial flows and the level of assets that were stolen from the country and the continent to other jurisdictions, to see how we can enhance our democracy.

“Under the EITI agreement, procurement processes should be proactively disclosed, meaning that one doesn’t need Freedom of Information Act to get any information.

“For instance, in the extractive sector, when the government proactively discloses how many barrels of crude oil we are producing and how many we are selling and the production sharing contract, there will be no need for investigative journalism.

“Developed countries do better than us because the level of citizen engagement is very high.

“It is not about the media and CSOs; when citizens are aware and demand accountability, you will find out that the institutions will be responsible because citizens trigger responsibility in the government,” Yakubu said.

Earlier, Prof. Muhammad Ladan, Director-General, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), urged every head of an institution to take charge of finances to be able to check corruption in the system.

Ladan said that any abuse of power created an element of corruption.

“The level of corruption in the system has left those that are principled without any choice of being corrupted.

“From that conference in Lithuania, we were told to go and repackage the anti-corruption fight based on their context and peculiarity.

“The declaration has one key takeaway – that we must enhance the capacity of the citizens to participate in governance.

“You can find this particular declaration clause in the Nigerian Constitution, Section 24, Subsection 2, paragraph C of the Constitution provides for citizens to participate in governance.

“So, what we need is to translate this provision into actual practice which includes the fight against corruption at all levels including the private sector,” Ladan said.

Also, Mrs Nkemdilim Okereke, Programme Officer, Rule of Law and Empowerment Initiative, advocated for the inclusion of persons with disabilities while forming a mechanism for reporting of corruption.

“So, civil societies and other stakeholders, in all their interventions should ensure that feedback and preferences from the marginalised population (women, young people and persons with disability) are incorporated in their interventions,” she said.

Okereke said that the fight against corruption in Nigeria should not be left for a particular group but for all the citizens. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Chijioke Okoronkwo

By Nana Musa

The Centre for Management Development (CMD) says any individual who operates consulting training, without accreditation is liable to six months of imprisonment or a fine of N250,000 or both.

Mrs Modinat Olusoji, CMD’s acting Director-General (D-G), told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja that unaccredited corporate entities engaging in management development training are equally liable.

’They are in their own case liable to a fine of N1 million.”

She said the newly-amended Establishment Act of the Centre makes provision for the sanctions and empowers the body to enforce the law.

NAN reports that CMD and the Nigerian Council for Management Development (NCMD) were established in 1973 .

They are to regulate management consultancy training through the accreditation and registration of management trainers, training firms and institutions.

The 1973 Establishment Act was amended in 2022 and statutorily empowers the bodies to sanction unaccredited trainers and firms.

Olusoji said that the centre had put machinery in place for the implementation of the amended act on sanctioning unaccredited management training centres in the country.

She said the centre was also carrying out a campaign to sensitise stakeholders to the development.

“We are using every form of advocacy, including our accredited trainers, to be our ambassadors wherever they go.

“We are also trying to put some other activities in place to ensure that those unaccredited gets accredited because we don’t want to just go in the way of enforcing sanctions.

“We want to educate them on the consequences, so that they can voluntarily come forward to be accredited,” the acting D-G said.

Olusoji added: “Another thing we have done is to educate Nigerians on the need to patronise only accredited trainers and management consultants.

“If you want to know whether a firm is accredited or not, just ask for its accreditation number or the name, go to our website and carry out a check”.

The D-G underscored the need for standardisation in management training and urged stakeholders to work together to sanitise the environment and ensure that investment in the sector yields satisfactory result.

She added that the centre’s mandates were derived from the need for human capacity development, provision of services in the area of management training, research, consultancy and education.

This, she said, would ensure improvement of performance and productivity in all sections of the economy. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Ese E. Eniola Williams

By Muhyideen Jimoh

The Al-Habibiyyah Islamic Society has organised a holiday camp workshop for more than 80 teenagers in Abuja to inculcate moral values and develop their entrepreneurial skills.

The National Chief Imam of the Society, Shiek Fuad Adeyemi, at the end of the 10-day intensive camp on Saturday stressed the need for parents to devote more time for the development of their children, inorder to evolve a better society.

He said the 12th edition of the teenagers workshop which had as it’s theme:  “Heroes in the Making through Entrepreneurial Skills” was carefully segmented into pre-teens and teenagers sections for maximum impact.

“As we all know, the entire world is challenged, everybody is knowledgeable, but there are no morals, no discipline, no home training, most people are just focused on how to make money, even if it’s immoral and we can’t continue like this.

“This is why we brought our children together for the 12th edition of this workshop, this year we had about 80 of them in camp and Alhamdulilah we were able to teach them discipline, morals and how to supplicate and get things from Allah.

“We also exposed them to entrepreneurial skills for self reliance, we trained them in digital skills such as video editing, graphic design, photography, online business and other skills like baking,” he said.

Adeyemi, who decried the moral decadence and vices prevalent in the society, urged government at all level to synergise more with faith-based organisations to get youth development programmes down to the grassroots.

Earlier, the Ameer of the teenagers camp, Nurudeen Adeleke, said the camp was an eye-opener for the participants, as they learnt positive things that would make them better individuals and contribute positively to the society.

“Alhamdulillah, we are happy for this great opportunity and wish it can even be expanded in subsequent editions,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that participants at the workshop were taught entrepreneurial skills such as baking, weaving, netting, gift box, graphic design, among others. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Sadiya Hamza