By Adebisi Onanuga
Social Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged federal and state governments to encourage civil society organisations (CSOs) and citizens to utilise whistle blowing and hotline channels to expose corrupt practices related to Covid-19.
The organisation said offering CSOs adequate legal protection and cessation of harassment by security agencies would improve and strengthen the outcomes of government’s responses to the pandemic.
SERAP gave the advice in its latest publication titled: “10-Point programme of action on promoting transparency and accountability in COVID-19 spending in Nigeria” presented in Lagos.
The organisation admonished federal and state governments to recognise civil society as an essential stakeholder in the global ecosystem and democratic states and therefore, a core part of the COVID-19 transparency and accountability agenda as well as post-coronavirus recovery.
It urged them to submit themselves to obedience to the rule of law during and beyond COVID-19 pandemic.
It further asked state governments to immediately implement constitutional provisions which guarantee full financial autonomy of the state legislature and judiciary, adding that the independence of the judiciary is essential for Nigerians to access justice and enjoy their right to an effective remedy at the state level.
The report urged government to create opportunities for all citizens, including CSOs and those from marginalised communities, to provide input into the fiscal and distributive processes in response to COVID-19.
It asked government to strengthen and monitor all COVID-19 incomes and expenditure through independent analysts, institutions, bilateral, regional and international partners to sustain improvements in transparency and accountability mechanisms, and protecting them from political interference.
During panel discussion, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Prof. Yemi Akiseye-George, urged the Federal and state governments to actively and openly condemn corruption in all ramifications.
Akinseye-George asked the two levels of government to see to the publication by SERAP on how much monetary and other resources were generated from public and private channels, allocated and expended in a timely manner that is accessible to all in compliance with the Freedom of Information Act and under Nigeria’s commitments under the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the West African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
According to him, the Federal Government and state governments should adopt a rights-based approach in all planning, budgeting, and programming of COVID-19 to reflect provisions for particularly vulnerable groups, to identify duty-bearers and beneficiaries at all times.
“Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures, but the Federal Government and state governments still need to remain accountable to their international and constitutional obligations to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the human rights of all Nigerians as they grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Prof Akinseye-George decried government’s response to COVID-19. According to him, public enlightenment about the pandemic failed because handbills for education of the populace were not properly done.
He said enlightenment materials dispatched to local areas were written in English instead of local languages.
He also observed that in places where people were asked to wash hands, no water was made available.
He said budgetary cuts and revisions, if at all, must weigh heavily in favour of social protection provision of critical infrastructure for the country’s poorest.
President Lagos Court of Arbitration, Yemi Candide-Johnson (SAN) observed that Nigeria has the most sophisticated human rights law but “only on paper. “
Candide-Johnson said that the coronavirus crisis tested the robustness of the effectiveness of government in fighting the dreaded disease.
He advised government to invest massively in education as part of the challenges needing urgent solutions to enable the youth make impact in the country.
“Activation of the youth of Nigeria is very important. Education is fundamental for upturning the injustices in Nigeria”, he added.
Executive Director, Victim Support Trust, Mrs Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji regretted that a lot of people died from the pandemic because of lack of preparedness on the part of government for emergencies.
She said it saddened her to know that a lot of people died ofCOVID-19 because of lack of basic infrastructure like face masks, hand gloves and sanitisers in healthcare centres, all which she said are human errors.
She said one thing that would destroy Nigeria fast is the seeming bureaucratic procedures which she described as human creations.
Mrs Akerele-Ogunsiji said that for corruption to be eliminated in post COVID-19, there was need to decentralise the state apparatus to accommodate the new development as it relates to the .
The Chairman, Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC) Lanre Suraj lamented that government in Nigeria was only good at setting up committees and shunning out policies without intention of implementing them for selfish reasons.
Suraj cited the school children feeding programme of the Federal Government which he said has provided opportunity for civil servants to steal money.
“Schools had closed and there were no pupils in them. Yet they claimed to have spent several million of Naira on feeding the pupils. Who were the pupils they were feeding when schools have closed?”, he asked.
He argued that most government policies failed because of the way they were structured.
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