The stakeholders on the fight against corruption have called for holistic approach and greater engagement with State and local governments to further enhance the impact of anti-corruption investments for Nigeria.
The call was made at the high-level Strategic Dialogue on Nigeria’s Implementation of the 2014 and 2019 United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) Review Recommendations in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital
The aim of the dialogue is to assess progress, determine any persisting gaps or blind spots and to identify priority actions towards the comprehensive and effective implementations of the Convention.
Speaking at the dialogue, the Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Oliver Stolpe, explain that following ratification of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in 2004 and establishment of the Review Mechanism in 2009, Nigeria has undergone two reviews for its implementation of the Convention.
“In order to facilitate the dialogue, UNODC presented the preliminary findings of a study it conducted over the past months through extensive consultation with anti-corruption agencies and other relevant stakeholders to assess the efforts undertaken by Nigeria to implement the recommendations of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) Review Mechanism. The 2014 and 2019 review reports contained a total of 65 recommendations. The study found that Nigeria had made progress in implementing 51 of the 65 recommendations, with the greatest strides being made in the area of asset recovery. UNODC also suggested a set of targeted actions for Nigeria to fast-track the follow up to some of the pending review recommendations. These actions include, for example, harmonizing the collection of anti-corruption data, instituting more regular coordination meetings among heads of anti-corruption agencies, and accelerating the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy.
“Young people in Nigeria don’t really know what the UN is doing beyond basically the flagship of organization such as UNICEF. We are 19 agencies in Nigeria, so that is many of us, so we need to collectively to do better at essentially communicating what we are doing, and of course engaging them constructively in that what we are doing, whatever kind of programme it is, whether it is on education areas, or general awareness raising, or policy formulation. I wouldn’t say we have not done well; that is not rally the case. On the contrary, Nigeria has one of the most formidable anti-corruption legislative institutional frame works, the question that remains sometimes is how we do even more to translate that framework in to actual anti- corruption result. They have been able to translate anti-corruption capacity in more results. And that is the kind of approach we want to see an propagate to some extent among entities, is not just what you an o today but what more can you do with what you have in order to actually at the end of the day, really make sure that we stand to tangibly reduce the incidents of corruption in particular an also include those that confront citizens on quite daily basis of what you are doing. The reality is, there is need for more,” Stolpe said.
According to the Solicitor General of Nigeria and Permanent Secretary Nigeria’s Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Beatrice Jedy-Agba, her Ministry is working to improve coordination across Nigeria’s anti-corruption agencies through the establishment of an inter-ministerial body overseeing and coordinating the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy.
The Chairman Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, identified some of the drivers behind his agency’s recent successes in securing a rapidly growing number of convictions, from 195 in 2016 to 3,615 in 2022 so far. “The EFCC had invested significant resources in training and equipping its staff adequately, while also developing new policy documents and Standard Operating Procedures to increase internal coordination and efficiency.”
The Chairman Code of Conduct Bureau, Professor Isah Mohammed, emphasized that “of digitizing and automating asset declarations by public officials, which are currently conducted through face-to-face interviews of benefits. Phasing out human interactions would fast track declaration processes, free up human resources and provide greater confidentiality for the disclosure of sensitive information.
The Executive Secretary of the Presidential Advisory Council Against Corruption, (PACAC) Professor Sadiq Radah, while commending Nigeria for its successful recovery of ill-gotten assets, emphasized the need for continued improvement in this area. “Asset recovery is key to ensure that crooks never benefit from the proceeds of crime”
Supporting Nigeria in the effective implementation of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), with a view to safeguarding people, institutions and the economy from corruption and illicit financial flows is a key priority area for UNODC’s work in Nigeria, as laid out its 2030 Strategic Vision for Nigeria.
It has also been identified as one of the transformative initiatives in the newly adopted 2023-2027 United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Nigeria.
