*UNCAC Coalition guide to improve openness, transparency and accountability in engagement between private sector and communities
By Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku
Port Harcourt, Nigeria – Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), last weekend in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, organized a workshop ‘to bridge the gap between the private sector and Civil Society organizations accelerate development in Nigeria’.
A statement from ANEEJ said that the outcome of the workshop is expected to lead to improved engagement and collaboration between CSOs, host communities and the private sector.
“We will use the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, UNCAC Coalition guide to improve openness, transparency and accountability in engagement between private sector and communities, particularly in the discharge of their duty bearer roles.
“The workshop will deliver training to participants on how CSOs can use the guide to engage the private sector (including oil companies) and state-owned companies such as NDDC and the oil and gas commissions in the Niger Delta amongst others. Representatives of the leadership of the oil and gas commissions and their supervisory MDAs. will also be invited to the workshop,” the ANEEJ statement said.
Rev David Ugolor, ANEEJ, who was represented by Leo Atakpu, ANEEJ deputy executive director said that part of the reason for the two-day training is that even though most civil society organizations in Nigeria have effective partnership with the private sector, there is a need to bridge existing gaps so as to accelerate development in all aspects of development in Nigeria.
“We consider this project a very important one that seeks to promote and engage in anti-corruption policy reforms at both the national and sub-national levels with an ultimate goal of strengthening governance to deliver development goals to citizens, particularly in addressing poverty and inequality.
“The anti-corruption cluster believes that when CSOs, journalists and host community groups have the right knowledge, they are able to work with the private sector and other stakeholders to hold government accountable on the implementation of United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC),” Rev Ugolor said.
ANEEJ cluster organizations involved in the Port Harcourt training involved 21st Century Community Empowerment for youth and Women Initiative, Abuja; Community Empowerment and Development Initiative (CEDI), Warri, Delta State; Community Heritage Watch for Development Initiative, (KAI) Akure, Ondo State; Christian Fellowship and Care Foundation (CFCF), Owerri, Imo State; Foundation for Environmental Rights, Advocacy and Development (FENRAD), Aba, Abia State; Gender and Development Action (GADA) Port-Harcourt, Rivers State; Joint Association of Persons with Disability (JONAPWD) Edo State Chapter; and New Apostolic Church Centre for Development (NCD), Benin City, based in Edo State.Hide original message
Areas covered by the workshop include private sector corruption, transparency and accountability issues, a review of the UNCAC Coalition guide on civil society and the private sector, how CSOs can use the guide to engage the private sector, state-owned companies like the NDDC and oil and gas commissions in the Niger Delta.
On the relevance of bridging the gaps between CSOs and Civil Society, Obialunanma Nnaobi-Ayodele, Incoming CS Co-Chair of the OGP in Nigeria said that most of the illicit financial flows from the global south to the North were mostly made possible through the connivance of the organized private sector.
Babatunde Oluajo, lead facilitator said during the workshop that there is need for collective action between CSOs and the private sector. ‘CSOs alone cannot fully carry out anti-corruption agenda on behalf of the citizens who suffer from corruption’, Oluajo said.
Participants in group sessions recommended a strengthening of corporate governance, implementation of anti-corruption laws, public awareness and an improvement of sanction regimes.
Comrade Nelson Nwafor of the Foundation for Environmental Rights Advocacy & Development, FENRAD said that every management system in the oil industry in Nigeria must be firmed up. ‘We call for an adoption of management control system along all sectors of the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the oil industry in Nigeria. There must be fiscal transparency in Nigeria’, Nwafor said.
The workshop is part of the implementation of ANEEJ-SCALE project entitled Enhancing Anti-corruption and Social Inclusive Reform Initiatives in Nigeria. The SCALE project is a 5-year project being implemented by Palladium and its resource partnerswith funds from USAID, designed to enhance local civil society organizations’ ability to be positive and responsible change agents in Nigeria.
