C’ River govt partners NGO on information flow
Caristas Nigeria in partnership with the Government of Cross River State are to train whistle blowers and enact whistle blowers protection law in the state. In addition, the Carista Nigeria in conjunction with Justice Development and Peace Caristas (JDPC) and Budget Transparency and Accountability Network (BTAN) are to implement Radio programme on anti-corruption work with traditional leaders on value re-orientation, build the capacity of Civil Society Organizations on procurement monitoring and corruption risk assessment.
These were disclosed on Wednesday by the Programme Manager of Voices for Compliance and Legality (VOCAL) Barrister Cletus Aloke at the Project Launch in Calabar. He said that “Procurement compliance and transparency ranking portal for MDAs will be established and maintained to channel whistle blowing information and improve transparency in the procurement process while social media will be used to educate the citizens on value re-orientation”
He continued that the project will also aim to ensure the full enforcement of the cross river state procurement law at the end of 12 months. “VOCAL project would hope to act as a catalyst through the actions of anti-corruption vanguards who themselves are members of civil society organizations to evoke citizens interest using existing anti-corruption laws in cross river state and building partnerships with existing anti-corruption institutions”
The organization lamented the impact of corruption on Nigeria’s society and economy pointing out that the devastation has affected government’s ability to provide public security, rule of law and basic services and also directly affects the well-being of the population and its ability to rise out of poverty. “Corruption has over time marred Nigeria’s economic growth and both the previous and the current governments have recognized corruption as a key obstacle to reducing corruption has been emphasized on the list of national priorities.
The National Development Plan for Nigeria – Vision 20:2020 states for instance that corruption has been identified as a key element inhibiting economic growth and social advancement in Nigeria, through its negative impact on the inflow of investments into the economy, the high cost of doing business and the erosion of public confidence in the system.
Consequently, the programme manager said that cross river state was not left out corruption scourge and this was one of the problem that affected the lives of the citizens and development in the state. He blamed the fight of corruption not successful in the state to low deterrent, inadequate virile political and social movements to tackle corruption, inadequate access to public information as a lot of secrecy still pervades government documents in security of information, low public participation in governance, weak government institutions and weak law enforcement institutions.
In his opening speech, the Director of JDPC, Rev Fr Emmanuel Bekomson lamented that corruption was Nigeria’s biggest challenge. “It is clear to every citizen that the level of corruption in the country is high. It’s found in every sector of society. Be it a small or big sector, there is every possibility of observing corrupt practices when critically examined”
“Interestingly, Nigerians in the world are excelling but failed in fighting corruption. In the US Nigerians are excelling in sports, arts and media, industry and music. In the UK a Nigerian family is noted as the most highly intelligent and smartest family. In China a Nigerian was awarded due to his ingenuity. Even here at home, Nigerians are doing well but corruption is holding us back”.
“What is corruption? It’s the dishonest or fraudulent conduct, typically involving bribery. It is the illegitimate use of power to benefit a private interest (Morris 1991). Corruption is the giving of a bribe to an official so that the truth will not be told or giving of bribe so that lies be told. It involves the embezzlement of public fund for personal use and any act which is considered to be criminal act according to the law of a particular society”. He said that the fight against corruption should begin with us. It begins with the choices we make. It is a personal war. We all have to wake up to the fight against corruption.
