By Bob Majiri Oghene Etemiku
Nigerian Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have advised President Muhammadu Buhari to imbibe the practice of submitting his annual appropriation bill to the National Assembly early enough to give members the opportunity to scrutinise and pass the budget in good time.
The suggestion was made on Tuesday during a workshop for CSOs on Open Government Partnership (OGP) and United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), implementation in Lagos.
The program was organised by Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) with the support of European Union (EU).
The group frowned at the practice whereby Mr. President sends in budget proposal in December to the National Assembly.
“We want a situation where the executive would send the budget appropriation in September of every year which would give members of the National Assembly three months to appraise the performance of the previous budget before passing the new one,” the group said.
Rev. David Ugolor, executive director, ANEEJ explained that the goal of the project is to enhance the capacity of CSOs, including journalists to support anti-corruption effort of Nigerian government.
“Our target is to get a number of CSOs to understand what the Federal Government is currently doing regarding two important processes so that they will be able to engage the relevant government agencies taking lead in the implementation of such initiatives.”
The workshop, he said, is part of activities lined up under the Civil Society Advocacy to Support Corruption (CASAN) project.
“Today, we have invited to the opening ceremony persons from the Ministry of Justice (a focal person for the UNCAC review), the Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reform (TUGAR) and OGP Steering Committee Co-chair.
“We believe that these are part of the critical stakeholders who will drive the implementation of these two processes.”
Ugolor commended EU through the UNDP and UNODC for the support they have given to CSOs in the implementation of the CASAN project.
