Edo State Chapter of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) has commended USAID and Palladium for providing a platform through ANEEJ for advocacy to get the Edo State Government pass the state version of the disability Act, just as the Chairman of Niger Delta Development Commission assures Civil Society Organizations, CSO’s of transparency and accountability in its operations
Representative of JONAPWD, Anne Ojugo who gave the commendation during the Enhancement Anti-corruption and Social Inclusive Reform Initiatives in Nigeria Mid term review meeting in Abuja, said persons with disability in Edo are happy with the project which has actually helped build their image and ego with the law now signed by the Governor
“For about twelve years, we have been struggling to get recognition until this group followed us to fight for our right. We are happy because we have a right to be inclusive in the activities of different organizations, especially in the oil producing areas in the country,” she noted
The cluster organizations that attended the one -day Mid term meeting described the Enhancing Anti- Corruption and Social Inclusive Reform Initiatives in Nigeria project being implemented by Africa Network for Environmental Justice, ANEEJ and eight partners as part of Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE), as an important project that seeks to promote and engage in anti-corruption policy reforms at both the national and sub-national levels with the ultimate goal of strengthening governance to deliver development goals to citizens, particularly in addressing poverty and inequality amongst the people.
The meeting was also attended by the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Justice Reforms, International Asset recovery and International relations, Juliet Ibekaku -Nwangu, the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC Chairman, Lauretta Onochie, the Deputy Chief of Party, Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) Project, Bose Eitokpah, Global chairman, Publish what you pay, Osasah Monday and representatives of cluster member organizations spread across six states including the Federal Capital Territory.
Chairman, Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Lauretta Onochie in her remarks assured CSO’s and stakeholders that the Commission under her watch will be transparent in its operations because she stands for accountability.
,” I stand for accountability and transparency which have to do with who you are because if you are fair, there is no way you will hide what you are doing. You will let everything be open. So, I can assure you NDDC under my watch will walk the path of accountability and transparency. We owe it as a duty to Nigerians to be accountable, that is why we have set up committees to look at the various issues.”
The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Justice Reforms, International Asset recovery and International relations, Juliet Ibekaku -Nwangu disclosed that CSO’s have been integrated into asset recovery process of the Federal government and this was done in keeping to the terms of the framework the government committed to during negotiations for asset recovery which resulted in the repatriation of the first tranche of three hundred and eleven million dollars among others.
” The CSO’s have been integrated and they have the responsibility to tell the people what the government is doing at the end of the day, The government is committed to have a framework to engage CSO’s,” she added
The Deputy Chief of Party, SCALE, project, Bose Eitokpah expressed appreciation to the members of the various clusters for their commitment towards the realization of the objectives of the project and she welcomed the dignitaries who graced the important meeting on behalf of Palladium, SCALE project.
She urged ANEEJ to avail NDDC copies of the study they have carried out on the operations of NDDC and states of oil areas development commission in Niger Delta region
The Executive Director, Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, Rev. David Ugolor, speaking on the project background said the project which has the prospect to be scaled across the country to reduce corruption has a mandate to strengthen institutions and designed to address reform issues within the interventionist agencies set up to develop the Niger Delta region by both the federal and state governments such as the NDDC and the oil and gas producing areas development commissions in Abia, Delta, Edo, Imo and Ondo states.
“In February 2022, ANEEJ together with eight cluster members commenced the implementation of the two-year project and February 17, 2023 will mark the end of the projects first year. The second year of the project will commence immediately, which underscores the need for this review meeting. We have therefore invited cluster members and key stakeholders to review the project implementation so far, the progress made, challenges and lessons learned to improve the project implementation in year two. We hope that you will offer your honest feedback and jointly, we will discuss how to overcome some of the huddles the project faced in its first year.
” Already, the project has implemented several activities which majority of you sited here were part of. Some of these activities include baseline research, capacity-building workshops for CSOs, media, private sector, PWDs and host community groups on several issues, the development of advocacy plan to support the passage of pending anti-corruption bills, engagement with federal ministry of Justice, National Assembly, sub-national governments, oil and gas commissions, among others.
“We are happy to inform you that the project has achieved some level of result as some of the anti-corruption bills the project worked on have been passed and signed into law by the President. The Proceed of crime (Recovery and Management) Act 2022 and the Money Laundry Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022 are key legislations to support anti-corruption in Nigeria. We are also happy with the extension of the implementation of National Anti-corruption strategy
“Our cluster member, the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, Edo State Chapter led advocacy to get Edo State to pass the state version of the disability Act, which has now been signed into law by Edo State Governor. The project has equally done a comprehensive assessment of how Nigeria has implemented the commitments made during the global forum on asset recovery and the London anti-corruption summit, this is a useful resource material for both state and non-state actors and even the International community.
“To mainstream anti-corruption into the upcoming 2023 general elections, the cluster is leading an online campaign against vote buying . A town hall meeting with political parties and candidates was also held in December 2022 to charge them to tell Nigerians their plans to fight corruption if elected to office and to mainstream anti- corruption issues into their manifesto as they campaign across the country. There are other anti-corruption bills that are yet to be passed, even those already passed need to be implemented, our engagement with the oil commissions in the Niger Delta has not yielded the desired result.
“The 2023 general elections will hold in February and March 2023. These and many other areas will form part of the issues the project will be working on in the second year and we want you to work closely with us to collectively deliver on these issues as no single organization can do it alone,” he added.
The meeting dwelt on how commitments are transformed into reforms, key results and lessons learnt by the cluster members who will come up with better synergy to achieve the objective