Bayero University Kano

By Aisar Fagge and Uzair Adam Imam

The fight against corruption should not be left in the hands of the government and their agencies alone because of their apparent weaknesses. A lot of corrupt practices are taking place undetected by public anti-corruption agencies.

Prof. Ismail M. Zango, the Director of Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Studies, Bayero University, Kano (Mambayya House), made the above statement while speaking to The Daily Reality at a “One-Day Review Workshop of Civil Society Anti-Corruption Networks in the North-West Zone” organized by the centre.

Speaking about the time the centre started organizing workshops on the fight against corruption, Prof. Zango said:

“In 2018, the centre received a grant from MacArthur Foundation to engage faith-based organizations to actively participate in the crusade against corruption. And since then, we have worked with a number of CSOs and NGOs from different parts of Nigeria. So that was the first phase.”

Commenting about the achievement recorded by the campaign so far, the director said:

“The major success was that we were able to work with religious organizations. We invite Muslim and Christian clerics to enlighten them about the role they can play in fighting corruption using their pulpits through their sermons. We have also established anti-corruption clubs in secondary schools as well as tertiary institutions.”

“Government alone cannot fight corruption. But if you have civil society; if you have faith organizations; if you have community-based organizations all of them working together, the only thing that remains is to inculcate in them the culture of transparency and accountability,” he added.

There was a round-table discussion and Q & A session where leaders of selected CSOs from the North-West zone were given 10 minutes to report their activities and some of the challenges they faced.

Some of the “citizens” [members of CSO] blame donors for forcing them to do their bidding while others disagreed, stating that the problem was from the CSOs for selfishness, lack of transparency, accountability and being unethical in some deals.

Zahra’u Ahmad from Kebbi objected, pointing out that “Donors are not the problem, CSOs are. So if a donor comes to you with a project that goes contrary to your religious and traditional norms and values, just say no to his money. Another problem is we see these organizations like ours, which is wrong. These organizations belong to the community.”

While giving the vote of thanks, the Deputy Director, Research and Documentation, Dr Samaila Suleiman Yandaki, tasked the CSOs to be innovative in their fight against corruption by not solely relying on budget monitoring as indicated in their reports.

Some leaders of the CSOs presented papers that attracted questions, observations and commendations.

By Aisar Fagge and Uzair Adam Imam

Comrade Ibrahim A. Waiya, President, Kano Civil Society Forum (KCSF), made the observation while presenting a paper at a one-day review workshop organized by Mambayya House, Kano, for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Northwest Zone with support from MacArthur Foundation.

The workshop held at Mambayya House, Kano, on Wednesday, November 10, 2021, was themed “Towards Improving Internal Accountability for sustainable Anti-Corruption Efforts.”

Comrade Waiya said, “With the proliferation of many political civil society organizations masquerading as activists, there is the need for a national regulatory body that will be monitoring the activities of CSOs. The only thing most CSOs are doing now is self-regulatory, while Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has the record of board of trustees.”

Waiya added that another factor slowing down CSOs’ efforts to mitigate corruption in the country is the lack of proper knowledge.

He said, “It is a known fact that some civil society organizations have the zeal and commitment to fight corruption in the system, however many of such organizations lack the basic knowledge to appreciate the provisions of certain protocols, which need to be applied under certain circumstances to effectively, achieve the desired results.”

He further added that “Some of these protocols may include the use of the FOI [Freedom of Information] Act.

It is basically significant for CSOs to have basic information required to be used as a tool in the fight against corrupt practices. And the absence of such vital information may lead a person into committing a certain crime such as deformation of character and the rest, and may as well jeopardize one’s mission,” he stated.

“It is high time for CSOs to start looking for local donors such as Dangote, BUA and A. A Rano to fund their activities,” Waiya concluded.

The event had in attendance Prof. Ismaila M. Zango, the Director, Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Studies, Bayero University, Kano, Mabayya House; Aqibu Hamisu Garko, CEO, African Center for Transparency and Advocacy; Dr Bello Ibrahim, Deputy Director, Training, Mambayya House; Abdullahi Usman K/Na’isa, M & E Officer, MacArthur Project, Mambayya House; Dr Samaila Suleiman, Program Officer, MacArthur Project, Mambayya House and many more important personalities within the country.