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Politics?510 agencies score low on transparency index

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DBN, BOI, PenCom  top chat of most transparent agencies    Sokoto river basin authority, vet council least transparent agencies   How we arrived at results — Centre      About 510 Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) of government scored low in the latest Transparency and Integrity Index report for 2022, Daily Trust findings have shown. […]
The post 510 agencies score low on transparency index appeared first on Daily Trust.

  • DBN, BOI, PenCom  top chat of most transparent agencies   

  • Sokoto river basin authority, vet council least transparent agencies  

  • How we arrived at results — Centre   

 

About 510 Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) of government scored low in the latest Transparency and Integrity Index report for 2022, Daily Trust findings have shown.  

Accordingly, the Development Bank of nigeria (DBN), Bank of Industry (BOI) and National Pension Commission (PENCOM) have emerged as the top three organisations in the 2022 Transparency and Integrity Index ranking for MDAs.  

The DBN came top of the ranking with 58.74 points, while BOI and PENCOM scored 48 and 33 respectively to finish second and third. The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and the Bureau of Public Service Reforms were ranked among the top five agencies.  

In the same vein, the bottom five agencies that have zero points are the Sokoto-Rima River Basin Development Authority, Tafawa Balewa Square Management Board, University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Upper Niger River Basin Authority and Vertinary Council of nigeria.  

The ranking was carried out by the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity SEE (CeFTIW), supported by the MacArthur Foundation.  

The Executive Director of CeFTIW, Mr Umar Yakubu, said the Transparency and Integrity Index providesd the benchmark to rate public sector institutions in nigeria, and at the same time empower Nigerians to demand accountability at all levels   

How the MDAs were assessed  

Checks by Daily Trust show that out of the 511 MDAs assessed in the report, only the Development Bank of nigeria scored above 50 points, which is an average score; the other 510 scored below 50 points, which is  below average.  

Checks by Daily Trust also show that the variables used to assess the MDAs include website integrity, fiscal transparency (financials), open procurement, anti-corruption, citizens engagement and human resources and inclusion  

Commenting on the report, Mr Yakubu said,  “511 MDAs were assessed across six broad variables, and the the ranking is aimed at preventing corruption in public office as it centred on procurement, budget, human resources, inclusion and website integrity.  

“We used this to check the level of transparency with regards to public finances, especially in procurement; how the MDAs spend their money, generate taxes and recruit people. It also assesses them generally on efficiency.  

“It is on this assessment that we brought out the ranking of 511 institutions which you saw; where some did well and some did not do well. We hope they will engage Nigerians more on their websites; it is a way of preventing corruption.”  

Yakubu regretted that most MDAs chose to present information on their citizen engagement but declined information on procurement, which turned out to be where the corruption centered more on.  

He also frowned at the non-availability of information on federal character from the MDAs to enable Nigerians know states’ representation in the various public offices.  

he said, “Those are the things missing, but citizens engagement and social media relationship are very active, but our aim is for the MDAs to give information on procurement and publish their audited reports.  

“The centre had already involved the EFCC, ICPC and Code of Conduct Bureau to compel defaulting MDAs to give information on procurement and things concerning their finances.  

Major findings of the report  

Providing more insight on the ranking, Team Lead of the research, Mukhtar Abdulhameed, said the key variables for assessment were central to the outcome of the report.  

On website integrity, he said, “The variable seeks to evaluate the accessibility issues of MDAs’ websites as a standard website has to be well structured, functional and accessible at all times.   

“It should have well-organised landmarks, headings, styles, content, images, links, tables, forms, widgets, scripts, audio and Update, and it should be navigated easily.”  

On assessment based on fiscal transparency (financials), Abdulhameed noted that, “Fiscal transparency is an essential aspect of entrenching transparency in the public sector as It entails the timely disclosure of budgetary and other financial documents that explain the financial position of public institutions.”   

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) defines fiscal transparency as “the comprehensive, clarity, reliability, timeliness and relevance of public reporting on the past, present and future states of public finances”.   

The requirement for fiscal transparency according to him “Involves having budgets documents that are complete, accurate, reliable and available in the public domain.   

On open procurement, the research team lead stated that, “The requirement for open procurement is for MDAs and other government institutions to publicise, among other information, tender adverts, method of application for contracts, bidding process, and other detailed information on the awarded contracts, the status of the contracts and contractors.”  

For anti-corruption, he said fighting corruption and bribery in all its ramifications ought to be among the cardinal responsibility of all institutions.  

He further said, “The anti-corruption variable seeks to evaluate the publication of policies and guidelines for fighting corruption in MDAs and other government institutions. There are two (2) sub-variables which are as follows: Anti-corruption policy and whistleblowing policy.”  

He also noted that citizens engagement serves as another important aspect of good governance in providing an open environment for the participation of citizens in decision-making processes.  

“The contributions of citizens usually play an important role towards entrenching transparency and accountability in public institutions. MDAs are expected to provide an open environment for engaging citizens.’’  

 In the area of human resources and inclusion, he explained that, “Human resources variable seeks to evaluate the publication of diverse classes of information. Section 2(3)(c)(vi) of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 requires public institutions to publish the names, salaries, titles, and dates of employment of all employees and officers of the institution.”  

Methodology of scoring  

Providing more insights, he said, “Each sub-variable was given a score from 0-1 and the variable was aggregated to have percentage score of 100, after then it will be rescaled to carry the weight given to each variable.   

He added that only the top six institutions scored 45 per cent and above, while 505 institutions scored less than 45 per cent.  

He further said, “The sectoral ranking is to show the performance of each institution in its sector, coming first for those institutions with low percentage score doesn’t mean they performed well, it is just to show how the institutions performed within their sector.”  

He added that only 20 MDAs published information regarding either anti-corruption policy or whistleblowing policy on their websites, with all the remaining 491 not having such information on their websites, noting that, “That is why they scored 0 in the anti-corruption variable.   

How 2022 ranking differs from 2021  

The Executive Director of the Centre, Mr Yakubu, noted that there was an overall improvement in 2022 compared to 2021.  

He said, “There is an improvement in the overall performance. As of 2021 the highest score was 34.92 per cent, while for 2022 the highest score is 59.74 per cent. As of 2021 all the institutions scored below 45, while for 2022 six institutions scored 45 per cent and above  

“Also, all the scores of all the sectors have improved in 2022.”

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News Update?Osun Governorship Election Petition Tribunal Sitting Begins October 26

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Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal will on October 26 begin a full hearing of the petition filed by Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against the declaration of Senator Ademola Adeleke as governor-elect.

Lifestyle Nigeria reports that the tribunal made this pronouncement after concluding the pre-hearing session on Thursday.

The tribunal was asked to dismiss the applications of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), seeking the discontinuation of the petition brought to it by Governor Oyetola.

Counsel for Oyetola and the APC, Lasun Sanusi, SAN, at the sitting of the tribunal argued that Adeleke’s, PDP’s and INEC’s reliance on a Federal Court High judgment was nothing but an abuse of court process.

Sanusi argued this while replying to separate applications of the trio, seeking the dismissal of the petition based on the already appealed Federal High Court judgment disqualifying Oyetola from contesting the election.

Citing Supreme Court decisions in the case of Jegede Vs INEC, 2021, 14NWLR, Pt 1797, page 409, the counsel said the court had ruled that the signatories to the letter conveying the nomination of a candidate were not the nominators; rather, the nomination was done by party members at the congress, hence, the judgment could not stand.

Meanwhile, the counsel for INEC, Prof. Paul Ananaba, SAN; counsel for Adeleke, Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN and counsel for the PDP, Dr. Alex Izinyon, SAN, agreed that any decision the tribunal would take on the matter would have to wait until the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court decided on it.

They noted that they just decided to argue the applications to have it on record, a position which the tribunal agreed with and put on record.

Also, in other applications totalling nine by the three respondents, they asked the tribunal to strike out some paragraphs of the petition on the grounds that they were either lumped together or not related to the 2022 election.

In response to each of the applications, Sanusi said all the cases cited by the respondents were misconceived, adding that they were not applicable in the instance case.

He cited the case of INEC Vs Otti, 2016, 8NWLR, where the Supreme Court hinted that INEC was supposed to be neutral, arguing that all the processes filed before the panel have not portrayed the commission’s neutrality.

Sanusi further argued that the applications filed by the respondents were only meant to prevent the tribunal from focusing on hearing the petition on merit, asking the panel to dismiss the applications.

Subsequently, counsel for all parties in the matter agreed to begin the full hearing starting with the calling of witnesses on October 26.

In his ruling, the tribunal declared the pre-hearing session concluded and announced that the pre-hearing conference report would be presented on October 17.

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Politics?Why Nigerian Author, Chimamanda Adichie Rejected National Honour From President Buhari – Aide

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Lifestyle Nigeria gathered that award-winning Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who was recently decorated with Harvard University’s iconic W.E.B. Du Bois Medal, has broken her silence over her non-appearance at Tuesday’s conferment of national honours by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Putting the records straight, a member of Chimamanda’s communications team, Omawumi Ogbe, told newsmen that the author declined the honour.

Ogbe said in a statement: “Following the recent conferment of national awards by the President, there have been conflicting reports about one of the announced recipients, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Some social media users say the award-winning writer rejected the award, while others say she accepted it.

“The author did not accept the award and, as such, did not attend the ceremony. She, however, did not want to create undue publicity around it, so her non-acceptance was conveyed privately,” Ogbe said.

While conferring the award on 450 Nigerians and foreigners, President Buhari had justified the honours, saying the awardees had distinguished themselves in the service of the nation and humanity.

“We have among the recipients today, Amb. Prof. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Ms. Amina J. Mohammed and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who are doing our country proud on the international scene,” Buhari said. “Our dear sisters are a source of inspiration to our young women that through the dint of hard work and dedication, they can achieve greatness.”

This is not the first time an honouree will turn down a national honour from a Nigerian president.

Late Prof. Chinua Achebe, the world-acclaimed Nigerian literary giant and author of Things Fall Apart, rejected the national honours award in 2004 and 2011, leading to an uproar at that time.

Achebe said he rejected the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) award because he was dissatisfied with the handling of the country’s affairs by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration. In 2011, Achebe rejected the same award from the Goodluck Jonathan administration, saying the reasons for rejecting the offer when it was first made in 2004 had not been addressed.

Also, the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, foremost human rights activist and lawyer, also rejected the Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) conferred on him in 2008 by the Umaru Yar’Adua administration.

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Politics?Buhari approves 12,000 metric tons of grains for flood victims

Latest Politics updatein nigeria

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved 12,000 metric tons of grains for victims of flood across the country. Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Habib Ahmed, disclosed this in Abuja yesterday during the 2022 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. DSS DG’s son body shames Teni for ‘disrespecting’ Buhari Buhari seeks collective action against threats […]
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President Muhammadu Buhari has approved 12,000 metric tons of grains for victims of flood across the country.

Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Habib Ahmed, disclosed this in Abuja yesterday during the 2022 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction.

DSS DG’s son body shames Teni for ‘disrespecting’ Buhari

Buhari seeks collective action against threats in the Gulf of Guinea

He said NEMA was also sending out relief materials.

He said though the flood in Lokoja, Kogi State, was affecting the transportation of the materials, security agencies had been alerted to ensure the materials were successfully conveyed.

Ahmed said the heavy impact of the flood disaster across the country this year was because communities ignored early warnings.

He said the Federal Government alerted states and local government areas about the dangers ahead of the flood and used risk mapping to identify vulnerable areas that would be affected, but the warnings were not heeded to.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouk, represented by Director, Humanitarian Department, Ali Grema, said the scale of devastation caused by this year’s floods could only be compared to the 2012’s. 

“More than 500 lives have been lost, more than 1.4m persons affected, about 90,000 homes both partially or completely destroyed and still counting. 

“And also destroyed are thousands of hectares of farmland; thus worsening fears of a disruption of food supply in Africa’s most populous country These widespread cases are in 27 out of 36 States and the FCT.”

She urged communities to take climate predictions and flood outlooks warnings seriously, noting that all disasters as local.

“As we reflect on the present flood situation in nigeria, let’s consider the focus of the 2022 IDDRR. Did we not have enough warnings or was our predictions and flood outlook wrong? Did we not act enough to prevent or mitigate what we’re confronted with today? While we shall not apportion blames, we need to acknowledge the fact that we all had enough warning and our advocacy was timely. We can’t outright eliminate flood but we can keep people safe. That responsibility is collectively ours.”

She recalled that in September, the Federal Executive Council had approved the National Flood Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan developed by an inter-ministerial committee.

 

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