Attention is not being paid to grassroots corruption -CSOs

In light of the corruption problems plaguing the nation, ActionAid Nigeria recently held a One Day Citizens Dialogue on Trending Corruption Issues in Nigeria.

The dialogue was held in furtherance of the Strengthening Citizens Resistance Against Prevalence of Corruption (SCRAP-C) project of ActionAid Nigeria which seeks to look at the fight against corruption through social norm lenses, and complement the law and enforcement approach that has been in existence in Nigeria.

The SCRAP-C project is a five-year project supported by the Department for International Development (DfID) Anti-Corruption in Nigeria (ACORN) programme.

It is managed by a consortium of three national organizations, ActionAid Nigeria (AAN), Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), and Centre for Communication and Social Impact (CCSI) led by ActionAid Nigeria.

The project also has implementing partners, namely Women Advocate Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), and Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA) across six strategic states (Akwa Ibom, Bornu, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano/Jigawa, and Lagos) and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Though the dialogue held in Lagos on April 26, 2018 at The Dover Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, participants also came from the other SCRAP-C strategic states.

The dialogue turned out to be a thorough dissertation of corruption and an opportunity for the participating civil society organizations (CSOs) to explain why they are important in the corruption fight and how they are actually carrying out the fight.

According to the lead speaker, David Ugolor, Executive Director, Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), “Evidence of corruption is everywhere. So why are we waiting for CPI?”

He added that “political will is fundamental to fight corruption,” and that it’s necessary to speak and act against corruption as “the reality is that when we keep silent, there will be problems.”

While speaking, Joke Fekumo of Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), said the corruption fight will be enhanced when the people expose corruption and that there’s an online portal run by the ICPC to report corruption.

Many others also spoke, there were question and answer sections, and other basic observations from the dialogue were that citizens should employ the FOI Act to find out about governance at all times; people should be abreast of national happenings at all times; that the National Assembly is not interested in fighting corruption as corruption resides in its chambers; and that nobody is talking about corruption at the grassroots level which is the most important as even though the corruption there is not in billions, but the little, little there eventually adds up to so much more.