Ani, Nwachukwu Agwu

President Buhari could leave a disreputable legacy if he does not assent to the Federal Audit Service Commission Bill (FASCB)

Perhaps, because President Buhari is a retired General, many Nigerians see him as a strongman. He was a Brigade Major at the 3rd Infantry Brigade in Nsukka during the Nigerian-Biafra war. Later on, in 1983, he plotted a successful coup d’état that aborted Nigeria’s Second Republic on claims of widespread corruption. Of course, coups begets coups. General Buhari was later toppled. Today, he is a politician, an elected president,  a “democrat”.

Being careful of his new image, the president is uncertain of how he will be remembered after his tenure. He wants to be treated fairly and kindly by history, Nigerians and indeed humankind. Having won elections in 2015 and 2019, he knows that being remembered as a military dictator is no longer fashionable. Could he successfully erase his past as a coupist that overthrew an elected government.

It is no news that political leaders want good legacies after active service. They want to be reckoned with as builders and statesmen who provided public services and listened to the people. But this is not the norm in Nigeria’s political sphere. Otherwise, why are they not uplifting lives, creating wealth and respecting the social contract as obtainable in advanced democracies?  Instead, many of them promote political vulgarity; corruption, mistrust and poverty. If politicians passionately care about what legacies they would leave behind, they would govern differently. But good legacies aren’t cheap.

World history teaches us that when President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented himself for election in the middle of the great depression, he knew the challenges, risks and opportunities but he dared. With time,  he succeeded – becoming the 32nd President (1933-1945) of the USA. Against the odds in this era, President Roosevelt helped Americans regain faith in themselves and their systems by defeating the great depression – the worst economic crisis in America’s history. Also, he famously “ended” World War II.

Back to President Buhari. In Nigeria, our dilemma is corruption – how to end public theft. In 2015 when the President presented his tripodal agenda: Reducing Insecurity, Fighting Corruption and Economic Diversification; upon which he defeated an incumbent president, Nigerians believed him and gave him the constitutional mandate. As such, President Buhari’s legacy would be judged by the tripodal agenda, especially “Fighting Corruption”.

Nigerians would remember him for his anti-corruption policies and positions, including his action or inaction to implement the Federal Audit Service Commission Bill (FASCB). The bill was passed by the National Assembly (House of Representatives – April 2016 and Senate – May 2019) and transmitted to him for assent. Since then, the President has neither assented (signed it into law) nor declined assent. The President’s silence on FASCB is worrisome because corruption continues to rob Nigerians of opportunities to live prosperous lives.

Historically, before the military intervention of 1967, the Audit Ordinance of 1956 was the statutory instrument empowering the Audit Office to discharge its mandate. At the time, the Audit Office had fewer encumbrances and discharged its responsibilities effectively and efficiently. Military interventionists changed the landscape of audit administration by abolishing the National Assembly that houses the Public Accounts Committee in democratic administrations.

In the second republic (1979 to 1983), appreciable progress was made through the 1979 Constitution to re-engineer and re-position audit administration in the country. The 1979 constitution gave the Audit Office extensive powers to audit all public funds and public institutions without exception. For example, section 79(2) of the 1979 constitution states inter alia: “The public accounts of the Federation and all offices, courts and authorities of the Federation, including all persons and bodies established by law entrusted with the collection and administration of public money and assets, shall be audited and reported on by the Auditor-General”.

Sadly, the coup of 1983 led by the General Buhari-Idiagbon regime brought a serious setback to the Audit Office and audit administration. In the Buhari-Idiagbon regime, the powers of the Auditor-General were watered down with the promulgation of Decree 17 of 1985 that prevented full audit coverage of public funds and institutions. Without doubts, this provision that exempts some agencies from the scrutiny of the Auditor-General is an impediment to effective public audit administration in Nigeria.

Since the fourth republic (from 2001 till date), the National Assembly has spent huge resources – material and otherwise, to amend Nigeria’s audit law, but none of these efforts has been successfully done. The failure of successive administrations to amend or enact a modern audit law to complement the provisions of the 1999 Constitution is a major impediment to the effective management of public funds. 

Nonetheless, President Buhari has a window to right his past wrongs. He should exploit the renewed agitations by Nigerians and civil society led by Connected Development (CODE) under its Money Trail Project to append his signature to the Federal Audit Service Commission Bill (FASCB) and give the commission all required political backings to subject all government agencies to yearly audit processes, scrutiny and accountability. There is no better way to fight corruption than instituting process-led anti-corruption policies or laws and giving teeth to the laws.

For three reasons, President Buhari has a moral burden to sign the FASCB. First, it will largely influence how he will be remembered. Two, a new audit law will redeem and repair his infamous role in the past when he enacted Decree 17 of 1985 which effectively withdrew the power of the Auditor General to audit statutory agencies, commissions, established by law.  The third reason is the institutionalisation of the rule of law in resource/fiscal governance – that no government agency can afford fiscal recklessness and go scot free. The ball is in his court!

Like President Roosevelt, Buhari should help Nigerians regain faith in themselves and their systems especially in this era of pervasive depreciation of trust in public institutions – ministries, departments and agencies. For this to happen, the Federal Audit Service Commission Bill (FASCB) should be signed into law without further delay or complacency. This is one way President Buhari will be remembered!

Author: Ani, Nwachukwu Agwu: Mr Ani writes from Enugu. He’s a doctoral candidate at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS), University of Nigeria. He can be reached via his email: nwachukwu@gmail.com.

CODE is pleased to celebrate the appointment of its Senior Legal Adviser, Nnanna Oketa Esq. as a member of the newly established Corporate Counsel Forum of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), alongside Seye Kosoko, the Company Secretary of FBN Holdings PLC, as the Chairman.

Beyond advising the Board and CEO on regulatory frameworks, statutory requirements and compliance, policies and internal control systems, Nnanna Esq., is also the In-House Counsel (Deputy Manager – Special Projects) of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) where he offers and applies his legal expertise on Legal and Regulatory Advisory on Projects and Infrastructure, Securitisation and Corporate Finance, Gas and Power Resale Contracts, including Cross-Border Sale of Power.

In addition, we commend the NBA President, Olumide Akpata Esq., for driving a united, progressive, courageous and citizen-centric Bar, and for the recent establishment of a Lawyers With Disabilities Forum to effectively advocate for issues concerning Lawyers with disabilities, appointment of young lawyers into several fora and committees, and the creation and appointment of young lawyers as permanent observers at the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the NBA.

We are in no doubt that Nnanna Esq. will continue to leverage his decade-long multi-sectoral experience in corporate legal advisory to bring invaluable contributions to the development of this new Forum as they drive issues concerning corporate counsels and governance. 

Once again, a heartfelt Congratulations to you, Nnanna Esq. from the CODE family and we wish you greater and exciting feats in the future.

Infographics: Eighty Percent of PHCs in 15 States Do Not Meet NPHCDA Standard, Unfit for COVID19 Vaccination — CODE

As Nigeria continues to battle COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 166,730 cases and 2,117 deaths already recorded, only 20 percent of the Primary Health Care Centres in fifteen states are functional, research investigations and tracking conducted by leading Civil Society Organisation, CODE has revealed.

Nigeria’s health sector has struggled to meet up with modern standards in terms of quality, efficiency, and accessibility to its vast population. With the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the wide devastating gaps in the health system became more pronounced, as citizens at rural and semi-urban communities particularly grappled with poor healthcare amidst a pandemic.

In March 2021, Nigeria received 3.92 million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, the first trench of the expected 16 million doses, according to an announcement made by the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib.

Concerned by the condition of the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) where average citizens receive treatment, and where COVID vaccines would be stored and administered, CODE through its social accountability initiative, Follow The Money, commenced tracking the distribution of these vaccines and assessed the preparedness as well as the quality of Primary Healthcare Centres across the country to receive and administer the vaccines at the community level.

This research was birthed as part of the objectives of the COVID-19 Transparency and Accountability project supported by Conrad Hilton Foundation and Skoll Foundation, currently being implemented by Follow The Money, BudgIT Foundation and Global Integrity across 7 African countries to assess government’s transparency & accountability in the management of COVID intervention funds and support to citizens.

Follow The Money champions in 15 states – Cross River, Yobe, Bauchi, Gombe, Taraba, Abia, Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Kebbi, Osun – across the 6 geopolitical zones of Nigeria, assessed the readiness of 90 PHCs to receive, store and effectively administer vaccines with the purpose to equally drive quality standardisation of PHCs in Nigeria.

Download the full report.

State-of-PHC-in-Nigeria

CODE and OXFAM are implementing a project on the Power of Voices Partnership (PVP) fair for All project within 6 extractive states- Delta, Imo, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Rivers and FCT. The project seeks to build capacity and raise awareness on the socio-economic costs associated with the Nigerian extractives sector.

PVP will focused on advocating for improved governance in the sector to ensure that corporations operate in human rights and conflict-sensitive demeanour. This project seeks to address by building new structures and strengthening existing ones to achieve sustained efforts and interventions across communities, the private sector and the government. Influence policy debates and other initiatives to ensure sustained and judicious management of tax revenue, other revenues within the extractive sector while promoting accountability.

The Power of Voices Partnership (PVP)- Fair for All (F4A) program, therefore, shall be used to amplify civic education and advocacies to promote:

1. Prudent management of natural resources (oil and gas)
2. Participatory budget
3. Fiscal transparency
4. Fair natural resources governance
5. Economic literacy
6. Fair taxation that energizes voice(s) of socially oppressed and marginalized segments of society, particularly, women, through:
7. Gender justice.

Other programmatic propositions are;

1. Fiscal inclusion through participatory needs assessment (community and shadow budgeting),
2. Tracking of expenditures (public procurement) mobilizing for fair taxation and participatory democratic rights and empowerment through (collective) voices. 

Through PVP, CODE will strengthen community voices and increase awareness on the socio-economic costs of challenges within the Nigerian extractives sector pertaining to the marginalisation of host communities. It will also advocate improved corporate governance in operations and the management of human rights in these communities.
 
One of the objectives of the project is to promote transparency and efficient management of State budgets for the extractive sector. 

To achieve the project objectives our team will strengthen the capacity of local organizations and citizens to increase the level of accountability of public actors within the extractive sectors. The project also seeks to raise awareness within the civic space, schools and the public through outreaches and followthemoney radio.

The United Nations has granted CODE special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council. The Non-Governmental Organizations Committee made the selection as a continuation of its 2021 regular session.  CODE was one of 65 organizations granted general and special status to attend meetings of the Council and issue statements.

The consultative status provides NGOs with access to not only ECOSOC, but also to its many subsidiary bodies, to the various human rights mechanisms of the United Nations, ad-hoc processes on small arms, as well as special events organized by the President of the General Assembly. 

Having fulfilled the requirements proffered by the 19-member Committee, CODE is excited to begin attending exclusive meetings of the council. According to the Chief Executive, Hamzat Lawal, “CODE’s selection offers the opportunity for partnership to advance sustainable development in Nigeria.”

The United Nations Economic and Social Council as a meeting point for partnership to advance the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental. Now in its 75th year, it is regarded as “the central platform for fostering debate and innovative thinking, forging consensus on ways forward, and coordinating efforts to achieve internationally agreed goals.”

It all started with a little discomfort in my chest which then grew into an excruciating pain over a few days. I woke up one Wednesday morning and I couldn’t bear it any longer. The pain in my chest had spread to my left upper body making that part go numb, it even became painful to breathe! This made my whole being scream for oxygen while I trusted the Almighty to keep me alive.

I was up at 5 am to fix my children for school. I was able to whip up breakfast and prepare their school lunch bag. 7 am saw me driving my pain-ridden self to the clinic. I got to the clinic at a quarter to 8 am. I managed to walk up to the entrance, only to be given a tally number with 21 on it and was asked to wait. 

In my painful state, I gently explained to the security guard at the door that it was an emergency and I needed to see a doctor as I couldn’t breathe properly. He politely answered that he was following instructions not to let a patient in until 8 am and I needed to go join the queue  (with numbers 1 to 20) at the waiting cubicle beside the building. Sadly, I looked at my wristband that showed 7:48 am and decided to sit by the stairway. 

My guy (security man) pleaded with me not to sit there and that I should go join the rest in the waiting cubicle. I pleaded with him in return, tears streaming down my face. I explained that I was in pain and wouldn’t be able to make it to the cubicle and back to the entrance. I promised not to get in his way. I guess we are all human because he looked at me, said OK, and told me he was sorry about the pain.

I sat there and watched the clock ticking, some people with express permits (e.g Clinic staff, visitors with food baskets) walked past me and the electronic door parted for them revealing the inside of the reception I longed to get into. 

At 7:56 am, I informed the security guys that it would be a good time to start calling us in. My new friend said not until 8 am on the dot and I had to swallow my pain, sit and continue watching time tick by. By 8:05 am, a man in a black suit and tie walked up to us. By this time, everyone in the waiting cubicle had assembled right in front of the stairway waiting to be called. I was lucky number 21 and was called during the first batch.

Getting through the card desk and checking my vitals at the nursing station took another 10 minutes and I was told to see the doctor in Room 6. Between me being in pain, running out of breath, crying, and explaining my symptoms to the doctor who was staring at me “one kind” perhaps thinking I was overreacting. He was trying to downplay my symptoms to bad sleeping posture. He then said he was going to give me something for the pain. I asked him if he wouldn’t do a chest scan to check what was going on inside of me because my upper body was in turmoil. I felt like all my organs had dropped into my stomach. 

He said he would rather have an X-ray and also invite a senior colleague of his to check me out. He stepped out and in a minute returned with another doctor who examined me and said they should place me on admission for observation and a series of tests would be carried out to determine what was causing the discomfort. I was immediately taken to the female ward, placed on admission, and treatment began.

Twenty-two hours down the line, a concrete diagnosis was yet to be made and I was still in this excruciating pain that I thought was about to take my life. The doctors and nurses kept coming in and going out of the room having managed conversations with me, needles jabbing into me from all angles, drips passing through my veins into my body. Still, I felt no comfort. Finally, a CT scan was done and a diagnosis was made. There was a decision to transfer me to a pulmonologist so I could get the proper treatment I needed. By 12:40 pm on Thursday, I met with the specialist and by 2:15 pm I was checked into Room 412 which would be my place of recovery for the next 7 days.

My experience with the Nigerian health care system has not always been something to write home about. Our lack of emergency response to serious life threatening situations and even situations that seem not too serious can be heartbreaking and have a negative impact on the mental state of the person in need of help. Oftentimes, this leads to avoidable fatal outcomes. A few healthcare centres have picked up the pace in their response to emergencies but a lot more needs to be done to address the nonchalant attitude expressed towards dire conditions that some people find themselves in. 

Looking back, Room 412 wasn’t only full of pains, needles, and medication but it availed me a space to be alone with myself, time to reflect, sleep and rest, and a pseudo-vacation where I was pampered by great doctors and a lovely nurse, wonderful hospital staff, family, colleagues,  and friends. I will surely miss my 7 days in room 412 and I will miss the nice people I met whilst recuperating.

I am dedicating this piece to doctors and nurses and all health workers in Nigeria doing their best to help the sick find healing and comfort. 

Svend-Jonas Schelhorn was one of the first members of the Board of Trustees of CODE in 2013, as he navigated providing expert advice and guidance for the Organisation in eight years. 

Jonas exited the board in 2020, having contributed to CODE’s achievements. In his time as board member, Follow the Money evolved from a group of 5 to over 7000 social accountability activists who are tracking government spending and impacting lives in their communities across Africa.

Speaking of his early memories of joining the board, Jonas commented, “I wanted to support the organization, because I believe in its values, work and vision. When I joined, I was a budding humanitarian activist. It is certain that youthful exuberance was crucial in sustaining the CODE energy.” Jonas currently works as an Information Management Officer for JIPS, an inter-agency service based in Geneva, offering support to governments and international and local organisations to find durable solutions for internally displaced persons. He is also providing support for teams and individuals in Non-Violent Communication.

How would you describe your experience as a Board Member?

(Chuckles) It has been eye-opening, actually. I joined the board when I met Oludotun Babayemi, the co-founder of CODE,  through an online network, the Standby Volunteer Task Force, where people connected to support humanitarian organizations with social media analysis in humanitarian crises. We did some work together and he and Hamzat Lawal deemed it fit to recommend me for the board position.

In the succeeding years, I followed CODE’s work and witnessed the growth of the organization, its success stories and the big impacts. I observed the growth keenly, witnessed the process and gave mild advice where necessary. 

What do you think of the Organisation’s culture? 

CODE is driven by passionate young people. I think this is admirable. I had the impression that the organization is living off a very strong vision and passion for what they do. 

I have experienced this in my own organization. What I notice is that if you live by a very strong vision and passion, you will have a very big impact in a short time. A shortfall here is that the Organisation may not have historical and background experience that people who have worked in the field for twenty to thirty years have. As a consequence, you learn as you go. That also counts for what it means to lead a growing NGO. 

If you were a board chair, what would you do differently?

First, I would provide a social cohesion mechanism between the organization and the board so that there’s no divide between both. I say that because in my experience, it is essential that the vision is clear to anyone who is working with that organization and that the vision is carried by all members of staff.

Second, I would try to build a functional Organisational structure such that all departments are in synergy. I know this is in existence but I would prioritise enhancing the structure and ensure a functional human resources structure as well. 

The third is fund-raising. Is there a proper fund-raising strategy in place that helps to project for the organization? What are we doing now to prepare us for the next five years? How much money do we need to stay functional. The last thing would be to support the organization to function in a humane way so that people feel good about working for the organization and that the organization has a very good communications structure between the team members to identify and resolve bottlenecks. To be fair, these are in existence at CODE. I will only be reinforcing these mechanisms and ensuring that policies are reviewed frequently. I think the heart of an organization is its employees or the people who work for an organization. It is essential that everybody feels valued and a contributing member to the team. 

Did you feel prepared for your board responsibility?

When I joined the board, I thought the idea of creating CODE with its vision was amazing. I still think it’s amazing and admire the impactful work that’s being done so far. 

I was not particularly ready at the time. I was young and growing. When I realised the obligations that came with being a member of the board, I tried to meet up with the energy while I was a member. It was an honour (laughs). 

How would you suggest CODE improves its board processes?

I think the recruitment of a board is, from my perspective, like the recruitment of an employee of an organization. You have to identify the people who are right for your organization. The candidate must have a clear vision of the responsibilities and expectations.

If I were to think about the future structure of a board and who should be on it, I would first think, What skills should a person have? What is their personality? A high-level of experience comes in handy. A specialist who has worked for decades and understands how the civil society space functions, what growth projection can be and how to access fundings. It is a huge responsibility so we will be getting experienced hands. The board is there to provide mentorship and leadership to all members of Staff.

Thank you for sharing your experience with us, Jonas. One last question, how would you like to stay involved with CODE?

Yes, I would be happy to stay connected because I am very passionate about leadership and establishing strategies for organizations. I think that’s exciting and also an area I would like to develop. 

My journey with CODE has been nothing short of fulfilling. Watching the Organisation grow significant impacts, it felt like  I grew simultaneously. Beyond work, I made lifelong friends.

CODE Holds Management Retreat to Enhance Corporate Vision

During its management retreat, CODE made deliberations and endorsed new policies to improve its internal structures and strengthen corporate vision.

The exercise, which held on Friday, May 21, 2021 during a four-day management and trustees meeting also witnessed the amendment and ratification of other relevant policies to realign with the mission of the organisation.

The assessment was conducted by the Lagos Business School (LBS), scrutinised the organisational structure including the relationship between the management and board members and reviewed corporate governance gaps and financial crisis that rocked the organisation in 2019, coupled with the impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that shutdown many socio-economic activity globally in 2020.

Papers were presented on the state and strategic plan of the organisation as well as the 21^st century role of non-profit board of trustees and management towards organisational efficiency, productivity and social impact.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CODE, Hamzat Lawal, while shedding light on some of these challenges that made his corporation to adopt the new policy, said the report revealed that there was need to reposition the corporate outlook of his establishment. “As much as we were excited about our work and we thought everything was fine,” Lawal said, “but that assessment and some of its key findings showed that we needed to fix some things if we have to scale-up and grow in our next phase.”

The group’s helmsman disclosed that the summit was organised to bring the management staffs and board members together to bond and brainstorm on how best to direct affairs of the organisation. He told the participants that the many setbacks that CODE faced in the past few years actually fortified and took the organisation to its current height of success and fulfilment.

“In 2019,” according to him, “we encountered serious governance issues and at that time for us we thought that would have been the end of our organisation because we were not operating with best practices.”

However, he clarified that with support from the LBS and commitment from board members who worked tirelessly in reshaping the organisational corporate policies, CODE was able to come back stronger with one of the best financial systems across the continent.

Acting chairman of the organisation, Anthony Agbor, while giving his remarks at the event, thanked the participants for their loyalty and commitment in engaging grass roots communities especially during the COVID-19 saga that almost crippled all human activities.

He urged the team to maintain its focus knowing that the future of Nigeria and the continent rest on the activities of the organisation. “We should not relent in our commitment to reach out to the grass roots and empower them to see reasons to rebuild the focus of this country and get us back on the part of glory,” Agbor submitted.

FollowTheMoney and BudgIT are tracking COVID funds and ensuring transparency & accountability in 7 African countries.

CTAP_Factsheet

Follow The Money is strategically decentralizing its operational structures to allow zonal champions to own the vision and encourage massive volunteer recruitment at the community level. To achieve this, the management of CODE organized a one day “zonal convening” for its FTM state leads in the 6 geo-political zones in Nigeria.

The sessions were designed to review challenges of lack of access to information and other issues that are peculiar to each region, compile success stories and develop strategic plans. These are efforts to strengthen the capacity of regional/state leads and FTM champions to be able to drive the vision of the initiative and achieve needed results with focus on FTM’s Theory of Change. 

The Capacity-building session with CODE’s Community Engagement Director, Busayo Morakinyo, set the tone for understanding CODE’s value and service delivery to her constituencies. “One of the goals of the organization is to strengthen the capacity of her state and local champions and help them grow to be able to demand transparency and accountability from the government.” Mr Morakinyo also emphasised the importance of participatory community mobilization and facilitating information sharing through community champions.

Topics on government data-mining, budget reviews and policy formulations were also discussed. The need for strong collaboration and partnership with community-based associations, youth groups, and community leaders using advocacy, to strengthen community engagement.

Participants also learnt about funding, idea generation, using social media as an advocacy tool to drive change and mobilising citizens.