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Tag: Accountability Lab Nigeria

  • Accountability Lab Nigeria celebrates five public servants with integrity awards

    Accountability Lab Nigeria celebrates five public servants with integrity awards

    Five Nigerians in public service have been honoured with the Integrity Icon Nigeria (IIN) award for their integrity by Accountability Lab Nigeria. 

    The awardees are: Chief Superintendent of Police, Mathias Nuhu (Akwa-lbom Police Command, Safer Highway Patrol), and Mrs Oluwashola Shobayo of the Lagos State Office of Internal Audit).

    Others are: Col. I.A Manga of the Nigerian Army, FCT; Mr Kumafan Dzaan of the Benue State Bureau of Statistics BSBS and Mrs Ann Ejulle Itodo of Government Senior Secondary School Apo, Abuja.

    The award, now in its 9th edition, celebrates ethical public servants whose work demonstrated honesty, professionalism, and impact.

    Speaking during the summit yesterday in Abuja, Executive Director of Accountability Lab Nigeria, Mr. Odeh Friday said that promoting integrity in public service was essential to rebuilding trust and strengthening Nigeria’s system of governance.

    He said that the initiative is designed to celebrate ethical public servants whose work demonstrated honesty, professionalism, and impact.

    Friday said the programme is implemented in partnership with the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

    He added that it is aimed at shifting accountability away from fear and punishment, towards incentives, norms, and results.

    “Today is about recognition with purpose; What we choose to celebrate in our society defines who we are, what our public institutions become, and the kind of society we want,” he said.

    Friday noted that recent surveys revealed that when integrity is ignored, ethical public servants become isolated, but when named and famed, it becomes a standard others aspire to meet.

    “We identify public servants whose choices under pressure produced evident outcomes for citizens, and we make those choices visible by telling their stories,” he added.

    Also speaking, Assistant Inspector General of Police (rtd), Mrs Hilda Ibifuro-Harrison said that Nigeria must entrench ethical leadership, fairness and measurable performance standards across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

    She said that this must be done in order to reverse declining public trust and institutional inefficiency.

    Ibifuro-Harrison explained that in spite of several policy reforms, Nigeria’s public sector continued to struggle with bureaucracy, weak institutions and a legacy of systemic challenges which dates back to decades.

    She listed key challenges affecting service delivery, to include outdated processes, limited digital infrastructure, weak enforcement of policies, politicisation and low morale among civil servants.

    Ibifuro-Harrison noted that the civil service was not lacking in dedicated officers but in systems that recognise and reward excellence, integrity and ethical conduct.

    She, however, harped on the need for recognition to go beyond annual ceremonies to a sustained system that provides platforms and support for ethical officers.

    Director-General of BPSR, Dasuki Arabi commended Accountability Lab Nigeria and its partners for sustaining one of the country’s most credible citizen-focused accountability platforms.

    He noted that the Integrity Icon campaign had grown into a movement which identifies and celebrates exemplary public servants.

  • Accountability Lab, partners enlighten youth on digital rights

    Accountability Lab, partners enlighten youth on digital rights

    Accountability Lab Nigeria has trained young creatives, students, artists, and digital content creators on digital rights and the threats that increasingly endanger them.

    Director of Programmes and Learning, Accountability Lab Nigeria, Ehi Idakwo, who spoke during the Voices in Code programme organised by the organisation, said that the event was deliberately youth-centred because young people are often the most affected and yet the most excluded from conversations around digital governance.

    She said, “If you look inside, you see that they are basically young people. And young people are usually excluded from conversations that actually involve them. Young people are also the victims who suffer the most when it comes to digital rights violations.”

    With increasing reports of unlawful detentions, phone searches, and censorship, Idakwo stressed that the digital space in Nigeria was rapidly shrinking in terms of freedom.

    “Recently, there’s been a high statistic in young people being pulled aside by police, searching their phones, ruining their privacy. Journalists are being picked on. People are being detained for just saying their mind,” she lamented.

    A pre-event survey conducted using the Mentimeter tool revealed that over 54 per cent of participants had experienced some form of digital rights violation.

    This, according to Idakwo, is no longer an issue to be “pushed to the side.”

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    She said that part of the event included a citizen-led co-creation session, where participants explored what a fairer and freer digital space looked like.

    “It’s very important that young people are front and centre of this conversation. That’s why we felt we should have this convening. These are the people who feel the brunt of censorship and digital privacy breaches,” she said.

    Idakwo also highlighted the organisation’s ongoing engagement with members of the judiciary, especially judges at both the Federal High Court and magistrates’ courts.

    She added, “We found out that many in the judiciary are not really aware of existing frameworks like the National Data Protection Act of 2023. So, if you’re going to be adjudicating on cases involving digital rights in this fast-evolving technological landscape, it’s critical to understand the law.

    “It’s about ensuring they do not override fundamental human rights of people simply expressing themselves online.”

    She added, “Monies are being expended to procure very, very expensive surveillance technology in the name of national security, and this is the highest it’s ever been in terms of insecurity. Yet, these tools are not used to track bandits or terrorists—they’re used to silence creatives, journalists, and dissenting voices.”

    A Digital, Media, and Gender Rights Advocate and Executive Director of the DigiCivic Initiative, Mojirayo Ogunlana, echoed the urgency of empowering people with knowledge about their digital rights—and their responsibility to respect the rights of others.

    She said, “People should know more about their rights, how they will be protected, and how not to infringe on other people’s rights.

    “A lot of people say, ‘I have a right to own a phone and be on the internet,’ which is true. But we must also make sure we don’t become perpetrators of violations, especially with online gender-based violence, which is on the increase.”

    She condemned the trivialisation of harmful online conduct, often dismissed as harmless humour.

    She said, “People say things like, ‘Oh, you’re so short, is that a dwarf?’ and call it catching cruise. It is not catching a cruise. People with disabilities, women, and marginalised communities are being pushed out of the digital space due to constant harassment.”

    Ogunlana emphasised the importance of public engagement before introducing any digital policies.

    “You don’t just jump into regulating. You need to enlighten the public and work with civil society organisations that are already in the digital rights space. You need their input,” she said.

    Ogunlana advocated for a multi-stakeholder approach in shaping digital policy.

    “You need the private sector, tech platforms, civil society, everyone. Because when you talk about the internet, a large number of people are on social media. And in that space, people are earning livelihoods. So the government must be very conscious. You can’t just start regulating without understanding your local context,” she added.