Anti-Corruption Activity Coordination (NG0009)

This commitment is to take a wide range of actions that will change the culture of corruption and create the enabling environment for building institutional integrity in Nigeria

9: Commit to taking appropriate action to co-ordinate anti-corruption activities; improve integrity, transparency and accountability

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

“This commitment is to take a wide range of actions that will change the culture of corruption and create the enabling environment for building institutional integrity in Nigeria.”

Milestones:

9.1. To set up a cabinet to co-ordinate anti-corruption efforts of government and provide national accountability on the implementation of anti-corruption strategy.

9.2. To join the International Sports Integrity Partnership.

9.3. To launch a Practitioner Partnership on Institutional Integrity in the Public and Private Sector with special emphasis on the extractives, health, education, professional bodies, anti-corruption institutions and infrastructure development.

9.4. To adopt the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS), working closely with CSOs.

9.5. To create an innovation hub that will facilitate the update of new approaches and technologies to tackle corruption and improve access to information.

9.6. Introduction and passage of the Whistleblower Act.

Start Date: January 2017 End Date: June 2019

Action plan is available here:

Context and Objectives

This commitment brings together a wide-ranging set of milestones that address corruption, which remains widespread in Nigeria.

The country has consistently ranked poorly on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index—ranking 136 out of 176 countries in 2016, and 148 in 2017. [105] A 2017 Afrobarometer survey found that although many Nigerians believe the government is doing “fairly well” or “very well” in fighting corruption, public perception of corruption is still high for police officers, National Assembly members, and local government councilors. [106] Between 2015 and 2016, almost a third of Nigerian adults paid bribes when in contact with public officials, almost one bribe was paid by every adult Nigerian per year, and roughly 400 billion Nigerian Naira was spent on bribes each year. [107] There is little or no transparency or accountability in sports, leading to allegations of corruption. [108] For example, in 2016, the Super Falcons (the female national football team) staged open protests against the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) for denying them their allowances after they won the Nations Cup in Cameroon. [109] In December 2016, the International Football Federation suspended its development grant to the NFF claiming that the organization could not account for an earlier grant of $1.1 million. [110]

A variety of actions under Commitment 9 were initiated prior to the commitment period. For example, regarding Milestones 9.1. and 9.4, there have been various efforts over a decade to develop a Nigerian national anticorruption plan. Between 2009 and 2016, no less than three draft national anticorruption plans or strategies were formulated. [111] Launching a Practitioner Partnership on Institutional Integrity (Milestone 9.3) derives from commitments made by Nigeria and the United Kingdom during the 2016 Anti-Corruption Conference. [112]

Between 2008 and 2009, various whistleblower protection bills (Milestone 9.6) were developed, [113] but at the time of this report, there is still no law that establishes a comprehensive framework for whistleblower protection in Nigeria. [114] A Whistle Blower Protection Bill, 2017 [HB. 17.06. 1073] is being processed before the National Assembly. [115] At the time of this report, only public officers are protected against civil or criminal proceedings for the disclosure of information in good faith under section 27 of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011. [116]

In 2016, the Federal Ministry of Finance introduced a whistleblowing policy, designed to encourage anyone with information about a violation of financial regulations, mismanagement of public funds and assets, financial malpractice, fraud, or theft to submit such information to the authorities. [117] Information can be submitted via the FMF-Whistle, a secure online portal, [118] which also permits the person disclosing the information to check the status of reported matters. [119]

This commitment is relevant to all three OGP core values. The innovation hub under Milestone 9.5 can improve access to information on Nigeria’s anticorruption efforts, while Milestone 9.4 calls for working closely with civil society in adopting the NACS and thus is relevant to civic participation. Additionally, passing the long-awaited Whistleblower Protection Act is relevant to public accountability. The commitment also addresses the OGP value of technology and innovation for transparency and accountability via Milestone 9.5.

The activities are mostly verifiable. Verifiable milestones included setting up the anticorruption cabinet and joining the ISIP. Milestone 9.4, however, does not explain how civil society will be consulted in developing the NACS, nor how their input will be incorporated and there is little detail provided for the innovation hub (Milestone 9.5).

This commitment has a moderate potential impact on addressing corruption in Nigeria. The mere finalization and adoption of a national anticorruption strategy will be a major step forward, as no previous anticorruption strategy reached this stage. The proposed NACS is also comprehensive and calls for civil society support to cement the Nigerian government’s commitment to tackle corruption and close gaps in existing initiatives. The NACS is based on corruption prevention, enforcement and sanctions, public engagement, a campaign for ethical reorientation, and recovery of stolen assets. [120]

Practitioner partnerships for institutional integrity are located within the United Kingdom’s new international program aimed at eliminating corruption and strengthening government integrity. [121] Based on development economist Paul Collier’s notion of “twinning,” the program seeks countries to share high professional standards and best practices in taxes, budgets, natural resource management and accounting.

If successful, the partnership between Nigeria and the UK will strengthen government capacity in the areas listed in Milestone 9.3.

According to Barbara Maigari, Program Manager of Partners West Africa (PWA), joining the International Sports Integrity Partnership (Milestone 9.2) [122] could prevent corruption in sports, therefore protecting its integrity and encouraging investments in Nigerian sports. [123] ISIP members are required to improve information-sharing between international sports organizations and law enforcement; take legislative or other measures to combat practices such as match-fixing, illegal betting, and doping; and enact whistleblower protection.

Adopting the Whistleblower Act (Milestone 9.6) will make the principles and mechanisms set out in the 2017 bill binding. [124] These include immunity for protected disclosures (extending to immunity from civil or criminal liability alongside protection from disciplinary actions, loss of employment, or termination of services), [125] and compensation for victimization of whistleblowers. [126]

Next Steps

Future commitments in this area should include:

• Narrowing down the scope of the commitment to the groups that are specifically perceived as corrupt (police officers, National Assembly members, and local government councilors);
• Tailoring milestones to address corruption in these sectors; and
• Including civil society in developing the NACS and report how their input influences the final strategy.

9. Commit to taking appropriate actions to co-ordinate anti-corruption activities; improve integrity, transparency and accountability

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

“This commitment is to take a wide range of actions that will change the culture of corruption and create the enabling environment for building institutional integrity in Nigeria.”

Milestones:

9.1 To set up a cabinet to co-ordinate anti-corruption efforts of government and provide national accountability on the implementation of anti-corruption strategy.

9.2 To join the International Sports Integrity Partnership.

9.3 To launch a Practitioner Partnership on Institutional Integrity in the Public and Private Sector with special emphasis on the extractives, health, education, professional bodies, anti-corruption institutions and infrastructure development. 

9.4 To adopt the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS), working closely with CSOs.

9.5 To create an innovation hub that will facilitate the update of new approaches and technologies to tackle corruption and improve access to information.

9.6 Introduction and passage of the Whistleblower Act.

This commitment uses wide-ranging milestones to address corruption, which remains pervasive in Nigeria.

Nigeria had consistently ranked poorly on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, ranking 148 out of 186 in 2017. ^[86] In 2017, an Afrobarometer survey found that although many Nigerians believed the government was doing “fairly well” or “very well” in fighting corruption, the public perception of corruption was still high for police officers, National Assembly members, and local government councillors. ^[87]

Implementation of this commitment is limited. The government’s greatest accomplishment under this commitment was to pass the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) in 2017, after 18 years of effort. The NACS addresses gaps in Nigeria’s anticorruption efforts. The Strategy particularly aims to mainstream anticorruption principles in governance and service delivery. ^[88] A secretariat in the Ministry of Justice was established to coordinate implementation. ^[89] In 2018, a Monitoring and Evaluation Committee, composed of government and CSO representatives, was formed to oversee NACS implementation. ^[90]

The remaining milestones were not implemented. The Whistleblower Bill was not passed during the implementation period, but is currently pending. Nigeria did not join the International Sports Integrity Partnership nor launch a practitioner partnership on institutional integrity. ^[91] No innovation hub was set up to facilitate uptake of new approaches and technologies to tackle corruption and improve access to information. ^[92]

This commitment marginally changed open government practices in regards to anticorruption efforts. The passage of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy is a significant achievement. However, it is the Strategy’s full implementation in partnership with civil society that will result in major governance improvements. This commitment has been carried over into Nigeria's second action plan. During the next implementation period, the government should prioritize working with CSOs to monitor implementation of the NACS as well as passing the Whistleblower Bill.