Presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, Dr.
Obiageli Ezekwesili, has said that one of the challenges confronting
Nigeria remains transparent leadership.
She said this during a visit to her by Peter Eigen, the Visioner and
Founder of Transparency International, in Nigeria.
The ACPN presidential candidate described corruption as Nigeria’s most
visible problem, and assured Nigerians in a statement on Wednesday that
her party would ensure transparency in governance.
Ezekwesili noted that fighting corruption in Nigeria required a a
proactive process, building strong and impartial organisations headed by
utmost professionals.
She said, “Corruption is arguably Nigeria’s most visible problem, and a
war against it has been a tool for opportunistic politicians who lack
the track record, political will or even technical know-how to tackle
this.
“Tackling corruption requires proactive approaches. First, value
reorientation, which will be led by the highest political authority in
the land, being the president. Hence, ensuring the election of a
credible, untainted president is critical to tackling corruption.
“Secondly, prevention through reduction of opportunities for corruption,
through public sector reforms, which improves public financial
management and also reduces the role of government in the economy. This
means reviving the role of the audit agencies and processes across the
public sector. Also strengthening agencies like the Bureau for Public
Procurement (BPP) and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency
Initiative (NEITI) by reviewing and updating their laws for
effectiveness.
“Finally, effective sanctions on corruption and impunity by reversing
the aberrant status quo where there is freedom to engage in corrupt
practices without consequences. This will require providing agencies the
capacity to detect, investigate and prosecute corruption.”
The presidential candidate also expressed displeasure with the
ineffectiveness of the Freedom of Information Act, saying it was
encouraging poor accountability in governance.
“There are two laws that deserve significant focus because they hold
significant potential to tackle corruption but have been hindered from
functioning to their fullest capacity: the Freedom of Information Act
and the Electoral Act. Ensuring that stringent penalties are placed on
bodies that refuse to or hinder the process to release information that
the public request is critical to improving transparency and fighting
corrupt practices.
“We will simplify the process of making an FoI request, by allowing
online applications and tracking the time that it takes to respond to
them. This is an initiative that will be executed,” she added.
It will be recalled that Ezekwesili was the pioneer head of the Budget
Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit (aka Due Process Unit). It was in
this position that she earned the title of ‘Madam Due Process’ for the
outstanding work she led a team of professionals to do in sanitising
public procurement at the federal level in Nigeria.
As witnessed by journalists and members of the Obiageli Ezekwesili
Campaign Organisation – HOPE 2019, Eigen reminisced over the years he
worked with Ezekwesili to bring global attention to the menace of
corruption.
He praised her for the courage of taking on anti-corruption and demand
for transparency during the regime of a brutal dictatorship.
The Transparency International boas remembered Ezekwesili’s role in the
innovation of TI’s Corruption Perception Index and her becoming the
organisation’s global voice, “thereby reflecting how seriously citizens
of African countries want the world to tackle corruption.”
He then praised her far reaching work as one who led the first country
design and implementation of the EITI principles when as chairperson of
NEITI, they went beyond the basic publishing of revenues received and
paid between government and oil or mining companies.
“NEITI broadened the initiative to process and physical audits of NNPC/
Ministry of Petroleum, IOCs and NOCs, which were all then published on
the Internet. It was for that work we were recently nominated for the
Nobel Peace Prize,” a statement from HOPE 2019 read.
According to Eigen, he is happy that Ezekwesili is running for the
office of the President of Nigeria.
He wished her success in the elections, saying, “It will be so much
easier for Nigeria to be committed in tackling her systemic corruption
challenge and become a model of transparency.”
Eigen added that he would be watching the elections with keen interest.
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