The refusal of President Goodluck
Jonathan and other public
officials to publicly declare their assets as required by law is the major
reason why nigeria
has not still qualified for membership of the Open Government Partnership
(OGP), an influential global anti-corruption initiative backed by major nations.
Six African countries, however, have
been accepted. They are Ghana, Liberia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and South
Africa.
OPG was established by eight
countries in 2011 to ensure governments’ commitment to promote transparency;
fight corruption, use new technologies to strengthen governance,
and empower citizens. Its membership has since grown to 60 states, and is
viewed by many as a mark of a country’s high transparency standard.
Jack Mahoney, the partnership’s
Program Associate, disclosed to Premium Times that despite demonstrating an
interest, nigeria
has failed to make the cut to be eligible for membership.
“Nigeria is very close to
eligibility, but has not yet reached the necessary score. At last count
performed in March 2013, the Nigerian Government scored an 11/16, and is
therefore one point away from the 12/16 minimum score required for countries to
be eligible to join,” he said.
Top on the list of the reasons given
why the county is still falling short is the brazen refusal of President
Jonathan and other public
officials to publicly declare their assets. Last year, during a media chat,
Jonathan openly stated he was not going to declare his assets:
“The issue of asset declaration is a
matter of principle. I don’t give a damn about it, if you want to criticize me
from heaven. The issue of public declaration I think is playing to the gallery.
You don’t need to publicly declare any assets. If I am somebody who wants to
hide it is what I tell you that you will even believe,” said the President.
Besides a public declaration
of assets for a country
to be accepted as a member, Mahoney added, it needs to publish its annual Audit
Report measured by the Open Budget Index (OBI). The Index measures the state of
budget transparency, participation, and oversight in countries around the
world.
In 2012, Nigeria’s budget scored 16
point out of 100, what put the country
at the 80th position out of the 100 countries surveyed. With 93 points, New
Zealand was rated as the country with the most transparent budget
followed by South Africa with 90 points.
Mahoney also said Nigeria
needs to improve its score in the Democracy Index (DI) to be considered for
membership. DI measures the state of democracy in 167 countries based on 60
indicators grouped in five different categories: electoral process and
pluralism; civil liberties; functioning of government; political participation;
and political culture. Last year, DI Nigeria was ranked the 7th most
terrorized country in the world.
Three Non-Governmental Organizations
(NGOs), Media Rights Agenda (MRA), BudgIT Nigeria, and Public and Private
Development Centre (PPDC), have called the FG to deal with the inability of the
country to qualify for OGP membership.
They said Nigeria’s failure to meet
OGP’s eligibility requirements “constitutes a major slur on the country’s image
and reputation”, especially in the light of the fact that six other African
states have become members.
The groups came up with a list of
things the FG should do to make Nigeria eligible for OGP
membership:
1. “Ensure that audit reports of
public accounts, particularly by the Auditor-General of the Federation, are
proactively disclosed and made available to members of the public.
2. Ensure that incomes of all
categories of public officers are proactively disclosed as required by Section
2(3) (d) (vi) of the Freedom of Information Act and other applicable laws.
3. The Code of Conduct Bureau should
bring itself into compliance with the Freedom of Information Act by acceding to
requests from members of the public for it to disclose asset declarations in
its custody submitted by elected and senior government officials, which
constitute information maintained by it as a public institution within the
meaning of the Act.
4. Improve citizen participation and
civic engagement in policy-making and in all aspects of governance, including
around the issue of Nigeria’s membership of the OGP.”
Jonathan’s Secret Assets Do Not
Allow Nigeria To Qualify For Membership In A Global Anti-Corruption Body.
Courtesy..Nigeria 24.
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